From the moment I read the description on the back of ‘The Housemaid’, I knew that I would be in for a ride, and I truly was. The novel, written by Frieda McFadden, has been one of my favorite books for a long time. It’s about a character named Millie who gets hired by a wealthy family to be their housemaid. It seems too good to be true, a live-in position for a family that had the perfect life. With plenty of twists and turns, I could never predict what would happen to Millie next. Once I finished the first book, I was obsessed—I read the three other novels in the series—and the story only got better. I expected a movie adaption to be as gory and thrilling as the book is. The film didn’t summon the same daunting feeling you get when reading the book—which was a huge let down.
From a complex thriller novel to the big screen, ‘The Housemaid’ movie was rather a laughable watch—though it was not intended to be a humorous film. When I heard there would be a movie made of the rather bizarre story, I hoped that the film would fall into the right hands to do the novel justice. The book—a super compelling, twist-filled, dark thriller—deserved the best director to carry out the novel as a film. I expected the film to be gory and genuinely intense—instead it felt like a joke.
The movie—released on Dec.19—did surprisingly well financially, considering that the film earned over $133 million against a $35 million budget. Despite the financial success, I did not find it to be a particularly good movie. Instead of a slow psychological burn like the book had, the movie was cringy, cliche, and not carried out with enough emotion like the book.
On the bright side, one of the best parts of the film was Amanda Seyfried’s performance as Nina Winchester. She honestly carries this movie. Seyfried’s performance of Nina is book-accurate, realistic, and very entertaining to watch. Without spoilers, Nina is supposed to be the “perfect” mom, she has a perfect home, perfect husband, perfect life…but there’s a lot going on behind the act she puts on. Seyfried portrays this role with dedication and brilliance, bringing Nina Winchester from paper to the big screen. This was the perfect character for Seyfried, considering one of her past roles as Elizabeth Holmes in The Dropout—a true story about a tech entrepreneur who committed fraud but sold her product because she put on a believable perfect persona—just like how Nina Winchester pretends to be perfect as well.
Sydney Sweeney portrays Millie, a homeless ex-convict struggling to find a job. In the book, Millie is shown to be a witty, strategic, and resilient person with good intentions. In the movie, Sweeney’s portrayal of this felt fake, forced, and amateurish. As a globally recognized actress, I expected Sweeney to at least pretend like she tried to act in this movie. But honestly, her portrayal of Millie had me questioning if Sweeney even enjoys acting. Her performance was the most disappointing aspect of the film, and probably the biggest reason for my bad review. Sweeney as Millie is probably one of the worst casting decisions I’ve seen yet, and it was a massive disappointment to see her fail to portray such a complex character.
Along with the disappointing casting decisions, the visual quality of this film felt very much like a Hallmark movie: brightly lit, minimalistic camera movement, and generally looking “low budget.” In most cases, the camera work is a very crucial aspect of making the movie—but in this case, the camera work seemed as if the directors didn’t seem to care about whether it looked professional or not. The soundtrack, on the other hand, was very strange to me since they used very mainstream songs—almost trying to sound “popular” or “trendy.” Most of the songs used in this movie were by artists with very large fandoms, like Taylor Swift. Everything felt very out of place and unnecessarily cringy. The movie had a hard time finding a balance between dark humor, seriousness, and horror. It was unbearable to sit through the end credits while “I Did Something Bad” by Taylor Swift was blasting through my ears.
Obviously the story itself was great (thank you McFadden for being an amazing author). The plot twists landed right (before watching, I prayed that they would—at least make it a little bit suspenseful) and I’m so glad about that. Still, the book is much more thrilling.
Overall, if you’re looking for a psychological thriller that will keep you hooked, this is not it. I’d stick to the book if you’re looking for something worth anticipating. I was very much disappointed by this movie: the camera work, casting, and soundtrack. It felt more like a Saturday Night Live parody than a true film, which is super disappointing because the book is truly outstanding. In the end, if you’re in desperate need of something worth laughing at, go ahead and press play, because you’re in for a true ride.