Millie Calloway (Sydney Sweeney) needs a job. Not only is it a condition of her probation (the details of which are revealed much later), but she’s tired of sleeping in her car. As luck would have it, a wealthy homemaker named Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried) needs someone to attend to the massive Long Island mini-mansion while she’s toiling away at her important speech for the PTA. There’s no background check, room and board (although nested in a small, quaint attic) are provided, and hey, it seems great! Millie needs a win, and she gets one, but it comes with all sorts of caveats — ones which play right into the sensibilities of director Paul Feig.
“The Housemaid,” an adaptation of Freida McFadden’s 2022 novel, is tailor-made to be experienced with a group of people. Credit to the script by Rebecca Sonnenshine; the film is filled to the brim with twists and turns. Once you feel you have an angle on where things are going or on a character’s motivation, the film flips the script. It’s not to the point where the novelty wears off. Rather, it’s an enjoyable, turned-up soap opera that plays out on the big screen. More often than not, yelling at certain characters’ glaring blind spots is almost inevitable.
Brandon Sklenar as Andrew Winchester in The Housemaid. Photo Credit: Daniel McFadden/Lionsgate
Nina, at least at first, is warm and fuzzy towards Millie. Her husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar), who is usually off doing his non-descript tech job, is somewhat surprised that Millie will be a new live-in guest. Their younger daughter, Cecelia (Indiana Elle), is extremely frosty and delivers some zingers whenever her new babysitter tries to build an emotional connection. But even as everything in the house is in pristine condition, the relationships themselves may not be. Millie hears Nina in the throes of rage and panic, accusing her of destroying her speech. Andrew is quick to calm her down, hinting that these episodes are a regular occurrence. These, along with the supposed attraction between Millie and Andrew, escalate throughout “The Housemaid.” Still, Feig, McFadden, and co-writer Sonnenshine draw from the source material to take things to unexpected places.
Much of the film’s success hinges on the casting choices and the ways they conceal incentives. From the moment Amanda Seyfried enters this film, she grabs it and doesn’t let go. She rides Nina’s emotional rollercoaster with humor and over-the-top reflexes. “The Housemaid” sets Nina up as a loose cannon, pampered woman who often throws tantrums. But Feig provided dribs and drabs of how other people view her outside of Millie. The neighborhood Stepford wives consortium gossips about a time Nina was institutionalized because of a tragic house fire that claimed the lives of her parents. The whole bougie town knows it (and won’t stop themselves from filling Millie in), and Andrew is heralded as a knight-in-shining-armor for weathering the storm.
Sydney Sweeney as Millie Calloway and Amanda Seyfried as Nina Winchester in The Housemaid. Photo Credit: Daniel McFadden/Lionsgate
With films like “It Ends With Us” and “Drop,” Brandon Sklenar usually plays the handsome, gentle guy who comes in to save the day through the aftermath of his eventual suitor’s tumultuous relationship. As Andrew, he follows the same formula. “The Housemaid” elevates his character to that of a loving family man who endures his wife’s outbursts to keep it all together. That “altrusium” attracts the attention of Millie, who, despite her best intentions, falls for him. Sweeney’s Millie serves as the audience’s eyes, but obvious red flags either go unnoticed or don’t deter her from doing the wrong thing. Feig adds the wrinkle that she is out of prison and that this job is her only lifeline. In turn, she has to endure almost comical bullying from Nina.
Without spoiling what happens, viewers’ assumptions about Sklenar and Sweeney’s characters get turned upside down, along with Seyfried’s. It’s Nina’s turn, which peels back the layer as to why something feels rotten in this immaculately dressed neighborhood. As Seyfried bursts through the door, both Sklenar and Sweeney’s characters also go through. There are other side character hints along the way. Michele Morrone as Enzo, the unsuspecting groundskeeper, suddenly appears in places and glares at Millie to imply that something is amiss. Evelyn (Elizabeth Perkins), Andrew’s mother, holds a “I’m better than you” air about her – yet, that serves to be a misdirect, not fully fleshed out.
“The Housemaid” contains camera pans of someone witnessing something they shouldn’t, and Feig sits within that playfulness. However, it doesn’t fully immerse itself in bombastic silliness. The film contains a serious message that plays out more cleanly than the passionate entanglements and violence that pave the way for it would imply. It’s the commitment of all of its parts to the rollercoaster-esque track of the story ventures on – hands waving in the wind and gleefully screaming – where you’ll find the experience is worth seeing through.
