The reviews are out on Paul Feig’s The Housemaid, a new Lionsgate thriller based on the 2022 novel of the same name by Freida McFadden, ahead of its theatrical release on Friday.
Starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, the film follows a young woman (Sweeney) who starts working as a housemaid for an affluent couple (Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar), Rotten Tomatoes reported. The young woman quickly discovers that the couple is hiding dark secrets — ones that will soon come to light.
Critics and early viewers already have a lot to say about the new thriller.
Critics are praising the film’s over-the-top storytelling and ‘campy’ tone
Many early viewers of the film have praised its twists and turns, with several critics noting its unexpected revamping of standard thriller tropes.
“We see immediately The Housemaid is not what we thought it might be, meaning the old trope where the new hire is really the crazy one, not the employer,” Pete Hammond wrote for Deadline. “But hang on, Feig and his screenwriter Rebecca Sonnenshine will be piling on so many twists in this thing you will think you are a pretzel by the time it finally crash-lands into its finale.”
Clarisse Loughrey described the film as “the kind of movie where everyone seems to have a secret, a past, a problem” for The Independent.
Early viewers on social media also can’t get enough of the movie.
Critics say the film is a ‘faithful adaptation’ of the 2022 novel
Fans of the novel are co-signing the new film adaptation, with critics and early viewers highlighting the movie’s “faithful” interpretation of its source material.
Screen Daily‘s Nikki Baughan wrote, “Throughout the film, Feig and Sonnenshine largely stay faithful to the book — apart from glamming up (and slimming down) the character of Nina, increasing the role of Andrew’s overbearing mother (an austere Elizabeth Perkins) and tweaking some key events so they become even more luridly exploitative,” adding, “The Housemaid could be described as a faithful adaptation of a problematic book, foregrounding the easily digestible, style-over-substance shlock that made the book such a viral hit.”
Early viewers on X, formerly Twitter, agree.
One viewer said the film may be “one of the best book to movie adaptations ever done,” with a meme GIF.
Seyfried’s performance is garnering praise among early viewers and critics
Early viewers and critics are also gushing about Seyfried’s performance, with many arguing that the Mamma Mia actor’s performance is one of the best of the year.
IndieWire‘s Kate Erbland said Seyfried’s performance was so strong that it helped the film’s pacing.
“Running over two hours, the entire thing sparks when Seyfried is on screen, and flails when she’s not,” she wrote for the outlet. “Too bad it’s not called ‘The Housewife.'”
David Rooney, for The Hollywood Reporter, praised Seyfried’s swapping “the ecstatic rapture of The Testament of Ann Lee for a different kind of hysteria.”
Brian Truitt of USA Today called Seyfried a “force of nature” throughout the film and said she “gives herself completely to the movie’s madness, throwing food with maniacal gusto and tossing the kind of shade that would cower Regina George,” he wrote in his review of The Housemaid, referencing her roles in Mamma Mia! and Mean Girls.