“The Housemaid” book, written by Freida McFadden, was initially published in 2022, with the movie adaptation being released on December 19, 2025. The thriller follows rough-around-the-edges housemaid Millie Calloway (Sydney Sweeney) and her eccentric employer, Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried).
Millie has been released from jail on probation, so finding a job is challenging. When Nina, an affluent stay at home mom, offers Millie room and board along with the job, it’s a dream opportunity. That lasts approximately one night before Millie wakes up to Nina making a scene in the kitchen. Nina’s husband, Andrew Winchester (Brandon Sklenar), comes to her rescue and soothes his wife, who is having a breakdown over a lost PTO speech and is blaming the new housemaid.
As the film progresses, there is a lot of back and forth in Nina’s personality. She is kind and makes amends for erratic behavior, then acts out again. Seyfried has an incredible range. From “Mean Girls” to this, she never misses, which makes her perfect for this role, where she teeters between unhinged and sweet throughout the film.
While I gather that the audience should feel sympathetic toward Millie, I’m not. Maybe I’m heartless, but I wrote “Why doesn’t she just leave?” five times. While we see her at one point asking a friend for a job, any job, to leave, if I woke up with my employer bleeding with crazed eyes and holding a sharp object, I would go. The end. It also isn’t clear how much time has passed during the film. It seems like it all could have happened in a week. I would have loved to have seen more good times than crazy moments to understand why Millie stayed.
The Twist – Spoiler Free
I had not read the book before seeing the film; although it’s been sitting on my TBR (to be read) list. Because I hadn’t read it, I expected to be surprised by the twist, but I was underwhelmed. I did read “The Last Mrs. Parrish” by Liv Constantine when it was Reese’s Book Club pick in December 2017, and felt like that was a similar twist. That book is gripping if you’re a psychological thriller kind of reader. I just Googled, and apparently, that is also being made into a film and is in post-production. I will be keeping my eyes out!
I digress. The film is worth watching for the acting. If you’re looking for a mind-bending thriller, this is not it. There are a couple of jump scares, but I didn’t walk away with the disorienting, momentarily unmoored feeling I usually look for in thrillers. For what it’s worth, I will be keeping it on my TBR list and seeing if the story is more enthralling in written form than film. I also really liked the ending, and there are more books in the series. If you’re a book-before-movie person, visit Bay Books or the Coronado Public Library.
Movie times: Click here
Genre: Psychological Thriller, Drama
Director: Paul Feig
Actors: Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried
Running Time: 2 hours, 11 minutes
Rating: Rated R for strong/bloody violent content, sexual assault, sexual content, nudity and language.
