‘The Housemaid’ review: Everyone is having a lot of fun, just don’t be a fake blonde in the Winchester house
4/5 perfect houses
Paul Feig’s take on Freida McFadden’s The Housemaid is a fun time at the cinema. And one you want togo into as in the dark as possible, especially if you haven’t read McFadden’s novel yet.
Millie Calloway (Sydney Sweeney) is looking for a job an ends up at the home of Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried). But not everything is as it seems. Nina has many labels thrown around about her, her husband Andrew (Brandon Sklenar) is a good father and a patient husband, and everything is a picture perfect look into their life. As is always the case, nothing is as it seems.
Feig has a brilliant way of bringing humor and mystery together to allow an audience to forget about what is standing out as odd in order to let themselves get wrapped up in the story. Nina has a past that has Millie on edge and Millie herself is a mystery.
All of it works in that Paul Feig sort of way too. If you’re a fan of A Simple Favor and its sequel, Another Simple Favor, then you’re in for a treat with The Housemaid. And it is somehow even funnier and more alluring than Blake Lively in three piece suits, an impossible thing to top.
Whenever there is a new mystery film, fans like to see if they can figure out what is going to happen and Feig has given us a great new entry into the genre. Especially if you’re a fan of this cast. But more than the twists and the turns, The Housemaid harkens back to the thrillers of the 80s and 90s that made so many of us love this genre to begin with.
The kind of movies that keep you on the edge of your seat
It is almost hard to talk about movies like The Housemaid without spoiling things. And maybe that’s a good thing on the marketing side of things. It’ll surely get people into theaters because they want to know what is going on with the film. But more than that, Feig has found a way within this genre to bottle female rage in a delicious way that makes fans excited to see his latest films.
The Housemaid is the kind of movie that captivates its audience. It isn’t reinventing the genre but it doesn’t have to. You’re just so taken by Millie and Nina’s dynamic that it is enough to keep you engaged. It helps that both Seyfriend and Sweeney master the art of the quiet tension between these two characters while still making them engaging and women to root for.
I do think I could watch a million of Paul Feig’s films like this. They feel oddly like a comfort as you watch them, even with how tense and horrifying parts of them can be. And with The Housemaid, you almost feel the need to cheer for the character’s you are on this journey with.
The Housemaid is a wild time but well worth the trip to the cinema for. It hits theaters on December 19.
(featured image: Lionsgate)
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