This Friday brings a handful of releases attempting to counterprogram against “Avatar,” but the one I’d actually recommend most is Paul Feig’s “The Housemaid,” a highly entertaining piece of trash in the best possible sense.
It’s glossy, watchable camp — the kind that knows exactly what it is. Unhinged, ridiculous, and confidently executed, the film plays like a breath of fresh air after months of suffocating awards-bait dramas. I needed it. Apparently, so did a lot of critics.
“The Housemaid” currently sits at 80% on RT and 68 on MC, which is more than a movie of this type is usually ever given credit for. It’s also eyeing a $25M opening weekend, helped by the fact that the book it’s based on is immensely popular. Amanda Seyfried is devilishly playful here, while Sydney Sweeney is good — though in some of the more dramatic moments she seems slightly unaware of what kind of movie she’s in, playing things a bit too straight.
The film plays like a campy erotic thriller, following a young woman who takes a live-in housekeeping job for a wealthy couple — only to quickly realize that their fancy home is hiding some seriously twisted secrets. She soon gets caught up in the husband’s manipulative games and starts pushing back in her own way: flirting to get what she wants, playing mind games, and even sabotaging the household a little while just trying to survive.
Power shifts, deception, and shady appearances keep things tense at every turn in “The Housemaid.” By the end, the movie goes all out, exploding into a completely bonkers finale full of sex, nudity, violence, and backstabbing — what more could you ask for?
Feig also needed this one, badly.
The filmmaker behind “Bridesmaids,” “The Heat,” “A Simple Favor,” and “Spy” hasn’t had a hit — or even a particularly good movie — in nearly a decade. His last run of films (“Last Christmas,” “The School of Good and Evil,” “Jackpot!,” and “A Simple Favor 2”) were all critically panned. And let’s not forget Feig is also responsible for the all-female “Ghostbusters” from 2016 — remember that one? A film that could have easily derailed someone else’s career entirely.
Feig has somehow managed to hang in there, and “The Housemaid” finally feels like the comeback vehicle he’s been desperately searching for.
Still no distributor for "Bucking Fastard," "Alpha Gang," "The Last Photograph," "Closing Night," and "The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd." The issue seems to be quality more than a lack of willingness to buy.