The Housemaid had a really boring mystery to me. It was released on December 19, 2025 with a runtime of two hours and eleven minutes. It is an adaptation of Freida McFadden’s 2022 novel of the same name. It was directed by Paul Feig based on a screenplay written by Rebecca Sonnenshine. The two production companies behind the movie are Hidden Pictures and Pretty Dangerous Pictures while being distributed by Lionsgate.
I don’t really have any problems with the actors, I thought a few were actually much more accomplished actors but were actually people that looked similar. The main cast of the movie features Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried, Brandon Sklenar, Michele Morrone and Elizabeth Perkins. I don’t mind the popularity of an actor as long as they aren’t bad at acting, which nobody really gave off in the movie.
The story is about a girl named Millie Calloway who gets accepted to be a housemaid for the Winchester family. Millie has had a troubled past that has left her severed from her loved ones and criminal charges tied to her name. Nina is the mother of the family and the one who hired her, she has a daughter named Cecelia who was partially adopted by Andrew when he and Nina got married. Millie is excited to be living in a home as her situation has her sleeping in her car. After the initial introductions it is obvious that Nina has obvious mental problems and quickly changes from kind and generous to very rude, and it is made to look like the other side doesn’t know about what the other did. There are a few twists later in the movie but I’ll keep quiet on those.
As a mystery, it’s very easy to solve as it really only shows one or two narratives. Its job as a thriller isn’t very good as well since most of the action is at the last fifth of the movie. It does fine in its genres but that resulted in nothing much of notice for me. The movie was also pretty boring since most of the actual facts aren’t revealed till the end. The end would’ve been pretty satisfying but the final scene made me question the main character’s sanity. Overall, I’ll give The Housemaid a 2.3/5 because the emotion I felt the most was second-hand embarrassment. I should say that I don’t think I’m the right audience for this movie because I know who it is but I think Knives Out is a much much better mystery with an actual good buildup to the final twist.
