Sometimes it’s the most perfect looking homes built on the wobbliest of foundations. The wayward Millie (Sydney Sweeney) is struggling to make ends meet as she toggles between jobs. Her minimum wage roles don’t afford her enough to live anywhere but her vehicle. All it takes to change one’s fortune though is a little luck and the right person to lend a helping hand. Millie finds as much when she applies for an open live-in housemaid role with the wealthy Winchesters in upstate New York. Matriarch Nina (Amanda Seyfried) can use the help, especially with a newborn on the way.

Millie is to have things spick and span, pick up and care for Nina and Andrew’s (Brandon Sklenar) seven year-old daughter Cecelia (Indiana Elle,) and generally be of assistance. Easy enough, but it isn’t long until Nina quickly reveals herself to be unstable and abusive to everyone around her. Unable to leave the dangerous arrangement due to legal conditions she must meet, Millie has no choice but to keep trying to soldier through this, unaware of what truly lies ahead for her.

There used to be a time when Hollywood would serve up a steady diet of erotic, trashy thrillers. Sure, you could watch them on Skinemax…err, Cinemax. But, if you wanted to be treated to a more higher-budget theatrical release offering, they came with some consistency for a solid 20-30 year stretch. Now in the aughts and especially in the 2020s, these wide-released steamy dramas have gone the way of the studio comedy, we just don’t get as many anymore. The Housemaid, while far from great, does enough in spots to fulfill that gap.

From his work on A Simple Favor and Another Simple Favor, Paul Feig feels like a natural choice to be behind the lens of this similarly structured film. His direction, while decent and able, provides little panache, which is sorely needed as the runtime slugs to two hours and eleven minutes. Near the end, Feig and longtime cinematographer partner John Schwartzman utilize a naturally lit and compressedly spaced attic to stage the feature’s most escalated moments, but it’s the only real stretch that has any stylistic flair to it.

The Housemaid’s screenplay generally adheres to the book it was adapted from, which is for better and for worse. On the better side (keeping it as vague as possible), a couple of the twists land and manage to keep the movie’s plot interesting. Two big reveals are polar opposites as it pertains to their effectiveness, with one doing the intended in reframing a character, and the other doing little to change how we look at them. There is another character who is positioned to play a noticeable role in the plot, only for them to be nonexistent, which appears to be a notable divergence from the book. Feig and screenplay writer Rebecca Sonnenshine seem to have no disillusions about the schlockyness that feels inherent to the story, and yet, there is a willingness for the movie to have its cake and eat it too when thinking about the weightier themes of abuse, power, and class.

This film in some ways is largely held together by the efforts of Seyfried. The versatile actress leans into the campiness, really going for it when the story necessitates it (and it does quite early on), but still skilled to pull off the affective moments outlining how she got to where her character progresses to. The Housemaid uses Sklenar’s all-American, too-good-to-be-true screen persona (cultivated from Drop and It Ends With Us) in a different way, in turn giving the rising actor his most interesting part yet.

As for Sweeney…the A-lister has been unfairly derided at times for her lack of ability. That said, her turn in this feature presentation does nothing to assuage those beliefs. It’s only near the end where some semblance of energy comes out of her lines and expressions, but for most of the movie, Sweeney is “two note” at best, one note at worst. So many scenes have her looking either blankly into space, delivering flat dialogue, or some combination of both. The tepid performance protrudes sizably when she shares so much airtime with the audacious Seyfried.

The Housemaid won’t share space with erotic thriller classics helmed by the likes of Paul Verhoeven, David Lynch, Adrian Lyne, or Brian De Palma. But despite its unnecessary length and nondescript direction, The Housemaid makes itself useful with generally entertaining twists and game performances from two-thirds of its cast.

C+

Photo credits go to impawards.com, hollywoodreporter.com, http://www.brit.co, and bloody-disgusting.com.