The Housemaid
Do your roots
Rating: 2.5/5
Slow
Messy
Over-narrated
The Housemaid is my first film of 2026, starting it off on a mediocre note.
It’s slow and takes too long to get going, and that time isn’t used effectively. The film relies on long, belated voiceovers and flashbacks to explain the twist (predictable anyway), and the use of narration throughout feels haphazard.
The soundtrack is a hot mess. It panders to the basic girly pop of the current times heard most prevalently with the Taylor Swift song through the credits, but which waters down critical moments of the plot which, if better orchestrated, could have injected a bit of life into it.
The steamy scenes (there’s a couple, unfortunately nothing too adventurous and none with the gardener) focus a lot on Sydney Sweeney which was a misguided choice, when 90% of the audience is clearly there for Brandon Sklenar’s rig (though boy butt shot is noted and appreciated).
Amanda Seyfried is awesome and easily the best thing in the film. I wish her character had just been a full psycho biotch because she was fantastic at it.
The story reminded me a lot of the Colleen Hoover novel Verity, which is quite frankly one of the worst pieces of literature to ever pass my eyes in recent years, if you could even call it that. There’s a film version of Verity coming out later this year which will no doubt be cut from a very similar cloth.
I am weary of this current trend of ‘girl power, all men are evil’ (or useless which is another subtheme resting its head in cinema lately, albeit it not in this film). These stories (see also Blink Twice, Verity to come) sensationalise real issues and their superficial engagement with the subject matter undermines the intent.
The Housemaid has a lot of wasted potential, and was a beige start to 2026.
Also, someone should have shagged the hot gardener.