‘The Housemaid’ Review – A Fun, Trashy Ride is Derailed by Sydney Sweeney’s Middling Performance

There was a time when a modest thriller like The Housemaid (2025) would have done gangbusters in theaters. The latest from noted comedy director Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, Another Simple Favor) follows a proud lineage of psychological thrillers with an erotic edge like 1987’s Fatal Attraction and 1992’s Basic Instinct. Based on the acclaimed novel by Freida McFadden, The Housemaid has all the makings of a ’90s smash hit. But in the confused, ever-changing cinematic landscape of 2025, does it have a chance? That will be up for audiences to decide. However, on its own terms, The Housemaid is a valiant attempt that could have benefited from a dash more camp and a more aptly cast lead actress.

Running from her past, Millie Calloway (Sydney Sweeney) finds the opportunity of a lifetime when the wealthy Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried) hires her to be the housemaid for the mansion she lives in with her husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar), and young daughter, Cecelia (Indiana Elle). This dream arrangement turns sour when Nina slowly turns confrontational towards Millie. As Millie endures increasingly abusive behavior from Nina, she begins to fall for Andrew, which in turn leads Nina to tighten her grip on Millie. The titular housemaid begins to realize that some opportunities are just too good to be true, and that she’s been placed in a position she may never get out of.

The Housemaid Starts Off In Troubled Waters

The Housemaid kicks off in a formulaic, rushed manner. Screenwriter Rebecca Sonnenshine (The Boys, Archive 81) seems in a hurry to establish character dynamics, to the point that our main cast feels more like caricatures rather than people you really want to get to know better. Shot under the glossy, though unambitious, sheen of cinematographer John Schwartzman’s camera with a score by Theodore Shapiro that sounds perfunctory, the impetus is on the actors to make a meal out of what plays like a prestige Lifetime channel movie for an early stretch. Most of Paul Feig’s frequent technical collaborators are here, yet the results are indifferent.

Some actors acquit themselves better than others. Brandon Sklenar (1923, Drop) has a magnetic screen presence as Nina’s seemingly kind, hunk of a husband, while Amanda Seyfried (The Testament of Ann Lee, Mamma Mia!) is perhaps The Housemaid’s biggest boon for its first half due to her sheer commitment to going full camp. No way around it: Nina is portrayed for much of the film as a “crazy woman” archetype that in any other story could read as reductive at best and offensive at worst. In Seyfried’s capable hands, Nina is a deliciously unstable treat to watch onscreen, an obstacle that hangs over Millie that, frankly, is the reason why the narrative doesn’t totally lose steam. 

The Sydney Sweeney Problem

Sydney Sweeney (Christy, Anyone But You), on the other hand, is completely out of depth. The Euphoria star has delivered performances before that showcased surprising lengths of range, particularly in last year’s religious horror sleeper hit Immaculate. That’s not the case here; Millie’s characterization, acting-wise, is reduced to mumbles and looking nonplussed by stressful situations. Even when the movie gives her a lot to work with, especially in the back half when the script finally unleashes its biggest plot twists, none of it ever comes off as genuine. Sweeney is grasping for a character that is simply out of reach. 

It’s a shame, because after a certain point, The Housemaid shifts gears entirely and becomes a different kind of movie. A much more fun one, too! Although Paul Feig never reaches the campy heights of A Simple Favor, several reveals irrevocably shift the story’s power dynamics, allowing the filmmaker to loosen his collar a little. The back half of The Housemaid takes its time, finding the palpable tension that the first half was so desperately missing. While Sweeney fails to sell the shift, Seyfried and Sklenar are basically chameleons, changing their characters so thoroughly that viewers can’t help but lean in eagerly. 

Following a Proud Tradition of Trashy Thrillers

Like the ‘90s thrillers The Housemaid feels so beholden to, Paul Feig and Rebecca Sonnenshine are clumsy in their integration of serious themes. The Housemaid appears to want to discuss topics like misogyny, male mediocrity, and skewed social systems. However, the truth is that it’s only a ploy to create an artificial sense of gravitas. You know what? It kind of works! Like a soap opera, the pathos is so overwrought and basking in a lack of sensitivity to the real-life issues it’s ostensibly discussing that The Housemaid ends up being compulsively watchable. In its best moments, Feig’s film achieves a camp quality where its misguided theatricality soars. 

The Housemaid is a movie designed to make people guess, gasp, and shout things like “Don’t do that!” or “Don’t go in there!” at the screen. That extends to the sex scenes, which are downright edgy in their clear attempt to titillate all sides of the theater aisle in an otherwise relatively sexless narrative. In other words, The Housemaid is clearly designed to manipulate its audience into extreme reactions. As potentially ominous as that sounds, it’s best to think of it as a rollercoaster that plainly wants viewers to get on, react, and then go about their day.

Just Enough to Give Moviegoers Their Fix

It’s hard to know how much of the actual “camp” is intentional or if it’s too little too late. A slow start, one ill-fitting lead actress, and a failure to be consistent in what it actually wants to be hold The Housemaid back. Then again, the madcap second half playing directly to a target audience of folks that merely want to indulge themselves in cinematic junk food hits the mark it really needs to. One has to meet The Housemaid on its own terms, because where there are moviegoers who want a trashy good time, there will always be a place for a film like this, regardless of the changing cinematic landscape. 

The Housemaid hits theaters on December 19!

Release Date: December 19, 2025.
Directed by Paul Feig.
Screenplay by Rebecca Sonnenshine.
Based on The Housemaid by Freida McFadden.
Produced by Paul Feig, Todd Lieberman, & Laura Fischer.
Executive Producers: Amanda Seyfried, Sydney Sweeney, Alexander Young, Freida McFadden, Jennifer Booth, Will Greenfield, & Carly Elter.
Main Cast: Amanda Seyfried, Sydney Sweeney, Brandon Sklenar, Michele Morrone, Elizabeth Perkins, Indiana Elle, Mark Grossman, Hannah Cruz, Megan Ferguson, & Ellen Tamaki.
Cinematographer: John Schwartzman.
Composer: Theodore Shapiro.
Editor: Brent White.
Production Companies: Feigco Entertainment & Hidden Pictures.
Distributor: Lionsgate.
Runtime: 131 minutes.
Rated R.