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Star Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried, Brandon Sklenar, Elizabeth Perkins, and Michele Morrone.
Director: Paul Feig
What’s Good: The film is not ashamed of reveling in the conventions of its genre, which makes it a lot more fun than it should be.
What’s Bad: The conventions of the genre and the execution regarding the performances can be quite over the top, which certainly makes it hard to take the story seriously.
Loo Break: There is space for a break in the middle of the second act, as usual.
Watch or Not?: It is hard to recommend this one in cinemas, but once this reaches digital home video, then that will be the perfect chance to watch it.
Language: English (with subtitles).
Available On: Theaters
Runtime: 131 Minutes.
User Rating:
Opening:
The sexy-thriller genre has been fading away in recent decades as the genre itself started to take itself a bit too seriously, losing audiences in the process, but all that goes around comes around, and it seems audiences are ready once again to let these types of stories trap them and just have fun with them, and The Housemaid seems to be that perfect first choice from audiences to start this comeback, and the results, while mixed, are on the right track.
The Housemaid Movie Review: Script Analysis
The Housemaid is written by Rebecca Sonnenshine, based on the book written by Freida McFadden, which, if you are familiar with the author’s work, should make it clear that this film is aimed at a female audience, as they have been for most of film’s history, as they are the ones who enjoy the genre the most. Paul Feig has focused his career almost completely on making films aimed at women. There is nothing wrong with that, but it should already be a big sign of your capacity for enjoying or not enjoying the film.
The script uses every single technique known to men regarding the genre, and we see it all, from a cast of beautiful people, shallow hilarious dialogue, over-the-top performances, sketchy plotting, and, of course, plenty of sexy scenes where you just wonder when the characters are finally going to give in to their basic instincts; there is a lot of mystery as well, not a very compelling mystery, but one that propels the story right towards the end, making it a useful tool to keep audiences on edge.
The way the film revels in these conventions is relatively fresh, as many other filmmakers would try to do something more serious or try to do something different, but the script avoids all these. It gives the target audience exactly what they want, but in the process, it will also deliver tons of cheesy and cringy moments for members of the audience who are not entirely sold on the premise or the genre itself.
As it stands, the film is essentially bulletproof against criticism, as those who love this type of film will undoubtedly love this one. Those who don’t won’t find any redeeming qualities in it, so be aware: this is not the type of film that will turn you into a fan of this genre, not at all. It is also hard to take the story seriously at many points. Still, if you already enjoy this kind of storytelling, you will have a blast.
The Housemaid Movie Review: Star Performance
The script might be all over the place. Still, the casting choices are quite on point, especially when it comes to the women, with Sydney Sweeney embracing this type of genre. It fits her sensibilities perfectly, even when she looks constantly in pain in almost every scene, and Amanda Seyfried proves once again that she was built for this type of role. She is definitely the most impressive performer in the film.
It is also quite nice to see Elizabeth Perkins on the big screen; she should do that more often. At the same time, the men, while solid, are definitely not the focus of the film, and that is fine. Sklener and Morrone are both handsome enough to survive the movie just by that alone. Still, they are certainly not bad actors, it’s just that the material doesn’t really give them something to really shine.
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The Housemaid Movie Review: Direction, Music
Paul Feig has been refining this type of style for years, particularly with the Simple Favors films, which serve as the blueprint for this one. Sadly, if you are looking for a movie that looks like one and not just another streaming film on the big screen, this is not the one, as Feig seems uninterested in any sort of aesthetic beauty and only goes for what is functional for the story, and not much else.
The soundtrack by Theodore Shapiro aligns with the rest of the genre and doesn’t do much for the film, in my opinion. However, having only silence would be awkward, so he can essentially be the saving grace of the film at many points.
The Housemaid Movie Review: The Last Word
The Housemaid doesn’t have any pretensions, and that is the freshest element of the film, as many others would be embarrassed or would try to find a more serious solution to the ridiculous extremes the story can reach, and while, yes, those extremes hurt the film, it won’t be for everyone, and some members of the audience will eat this film as if it were the best film of the year. Yes, it is fun, which is more than you can say for most movies released nowadays.
The Housemaid Trailer
The Housemaid released on 1st January 2026.
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