PLOT: Fresh out of prison, Millie (Sydney Sweeney) lies her way into a prime gig as the live-in housemaid for a fabulously wealthy family. Initially welcomed with open arms by her new boss, Nina (Amanda Seyfried), she quickly learns that life with her new employers isn’t going to be a picnic, especially once she starts to develop feelings for Nina’s husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar).
REVIEW: There are good movies, there are bad movies, and then there are good bad movies. The Housemaid is what I consider the latter. It’s an adaptation of a pulpy, trashy piece of airport fiction by author Freida McFadden that didn’t win a lot of critical raves but sold a ton of copies and was a damn fun read. It was trash, but it was good trash. Paul Feig’s film has the same goal in mind. A smart, sometimes sophisticated filmmaker, his A Simple Favor movies were like rough drafts for the final, ultra-trashy 2.0 version that is The Housemaid. Many will call this trashy and critics may hate it, but it could become a big hit if its lead, Sydney Sweeney, hasn’t been fatally overexposed.
The film centres around Sweeney’s Millie, but the screen time is pretty equally split between her, Seyfried’s Nina, and Sklenar’s Andrew. All three have been cast because of how they look, and Feig makes the most of that, with both Sklenar and Sweeney getting lovingly photographed nude scenes. There’s nary a moment where Sweeney doesn’t look like she’s about to spill out of her shirt, while Sklenar almost never wears sleeves.
Of all of them, it’s Seyfried as the gloriously batty Nina who seems to be having the most fun, with her crazy act coming off like a tribute to Faye Dunaway’s portrayal of Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest. It’s a delicious, deliberately camp performance, but it also serves a purpose as the movie goes on and the film’s real premise becomes clear.
Sklenar also seems to be having a good time sinking his teeth into a part that allows him to play a dreamy leading man while also camping it up in the film’s second half. It’s easy to see why Feig was able to attract three such big names to the cast, as it seems like the kind of movie that must have been a blast to make, and to be sure, it’s good fun to watch.
Of the three, Sweeney is stuck with the most conventional part, being our leading lady. Next to Seyfried and Sklenar, she can’t help but get lost among all the scenery chewing, but she also has the right look and charm for the role. While blasting her acting ability has seemingly become sport in recent months, she’s actually always been a good actress, although of her roles, this is likely the least taxing she’s played since Anyone But You, as she mostly just has to bounce off Seyfried and Sklenar’s craziness. The supporting cast more or less vanishes into the background, with Michele Morrone barely registering as Enzo, the mysterious groundskeeper. Elizabeth Perkins shows up, with bleached white hair, to play Andrew’s intense mom, Evelyn, with her doing a nice Joan Crawford or Bette Davis riff in her small part.
The audience that sees The Housemaid will likely be split in half. Some will think this is the dumbest movie they’ve ever seen and utterly dismiss it. But those who appreciate good trash and camp will have a good time. This isn’t trying to be Gone Girl or even Fatal Attraction. It’s more like the most psychotic lost episode of Dynasty you never saw, and for what it is, I had a good time.
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