One of the movies I was looking forward to seeing last year was The Housemaid starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried.That was the whole reason why I read the book of the same name by Freida McFadden. I was curious to see how the film would translate the novel’s twists and turns. And reader, it did despite one major issue.
The movie is mostly faithful to the source material. There are some minor changes. For example, Andrew makes a big deal out of the chinaware that his family has owned for many years. This is not in the book, but it plays an important role in the second half. The main difference is the flick adds a ton of gore. There’s far more blood and horror in the movie than there is in the novel.
I love the design of the Winchester’s McMansion. It’s pristine, but it also makes people feel trapped, which is fitting for the story. This is especially true with the spiraling staircase. Even Nina mentions that the home was something out of the Guggenheim Museum.
The performances are mostly fantastic. Millie, Nina, and Andrew and their interactions are the glue to making the story work. One needs actors that understand the plot’s seriousness and insanity. For the most part, the actors in this adaptation do. Brandon Sklenar (best known for his work in the television show 1923 and the movie version of It Ends With Us) plays Andrew. He’s perfectly cast in the role since he looks like a very nice prince. What Sklenar is called to do, he excels.
Sydney my-jeans-are-blue Sweeney takes on the role of Millie the titular housemaid. If you are reading this, you probably know who she is. If not, she’s an actress who’s known for her body, her work in the television show Euphoria, and the controversial American Eagle ads. I’m not crazy about her as a person. She always looks dead behind the eyes and relies too much on her physical appearance for attention. Even if she didn’t make as much noise as she did in 2025, I would feel the same way. As for her performance, Sweeney has little to no reactions to things, especially in the first half. However, she comes alive in the second part. She was intense and funny. In fact, she has favorite moment in the entire film, where after Millie gets covered in blood, she goes, “F***! I need a sandwich.”
If Sweeney had brought energy to the first part, then it would have been a great performance. But as it is, it’s good.
Then, there’s Amanda Seyfried, and she put on the best performance. She plays Nina, and she understood the assignment. Seyfried takes on the worst and best parts of the character with gusto. She’s a pretty actress, but I admire how far she goes to make herself look deranged. While she doesn’t put on a fat suit, Seyfried looks dangerously thin and lets all of her emotions out in the ugliest way possible. Even though they can be hard to watch, these were the most entertaining parts. At one point, she emerges with a busted lip and blush applied to different parts of her cheeks. I honestly couldn’t believe that this was the same actress who played the dumb Karen in Mean Girls and Sophie in the Mamma Mia movies. If anything this movie is worth watching mainly because of Seyfried.
As I mentioned earlier, there was one major issue I had with the flick. It does more telling than showing. Throughout the movie, director Paul Feig adds voiceovers for important bits that take lines from the book, so viewers can hear the character’s inner voice. This worked for the most part. There were two bits that bothered me. First was during the second half, where Nina’s backstory is revealed. Much is told through voiceover and flashbacks, but there were certain things that I wanted to see instead of hear. The other is in the opening scene, in which Millie puts on her glasses right as she enters through the gate to the Winchester home. After her job interview, Millie tells the audience that she doesn’t wear them, and I was like, “I know. We just saw that.”
That voiceover would have worked better if the viewers were introduced with Millie with the spectacles already on.
Finally, watching this movie made me realize that the story is best consumed mainly once. It’s so predictable that I was noting certain things being said that I initially didn’t pick up on in the book. It made me a little antsy. Granted, the novel had plenty of obvious things happening too, but it was my first time engaging with The Housemaid. However, the second halves of both of the book and the movie are worth looking at even more because of how unpredictable they are.
The Housemaid movie adheres to the suspenseful spirit of the book. It’s predictable in the first half, but oh so gutsy in the second. The best part of the film are the performances, especially Amanda Seyfried’s. I would recommend to those who love psychological thrillers, Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried, and the novel by Freida McFadden. Check it out while it’s still in movie theaters.
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Book Reviews by a Chick Who Reads Everything 