5 Minutes
Paul Feig’s The Housemaid arrives as a glossy, lurid entry in the psychological-thriller wave that has dominated streaming and theatrical releases in recent seasons. Adapted from Freida McFadden’s novel and written for the screen by Rebecca Sonnenshine, the film stars Sydney Sweeney as Millie Calloway and Amanda Seyfried as the matriarch of a wealthy household. Released by Lionsgate on December 19, 2025, the movie invites audiences into a once-pristine mansion where surface civility hides fractures, secrets, and a steady erosion of trust.
What critics are saying
Early reviews have landed across a wide spectrum, from enthusiastic to deeply skeptical. The Wall Street Journal and Associated Press leaned positive — the former praised the film’s mirror-like structure and its playful interrogation of what’s real, while the latter highlighted the film’s exploration of power dynamics and manipulation between genders. The Guardian called it a lively holiday diversion, noting the film’s operatic energy and a sustained sense of gaslighting that keeps Millie, and the audience, off-balance.
Mid-range notices from outlets like The Hollywood Reporter acknowledged the movie’s commitment to melodrama but felt Feig sometimes held back from fully embracing the film’s comic and satirical edges. IndieWire found the film’s pleasures modest and credited Amanda Seyfried’s crystalline performance with elevating scenes that might otherwise feel thin. At the lower end of the spectrum, Movie Nation argued that the adaptation wastes much of the source novel’s potential, growing predictable by the final act.
Scores at a glance
- Wall Street Journal: 90/100
- Associated Press: 88/100
- The Guardian: 80/100
- Hollywood Reporter: 70/100
- IndieWire: 58/100
- Movie Nation: 38/100
Performances and tone
Sydney Sweeney leans into Millie’s vulnerability and simmering edge, a role that asks her to move between innocence and provocation. Amanda Seyfried delivers a controlled, luminous turn as the household’s enigmatic center — a performance many critics singled out as the film’s most reliable asset. Supporting turns from Brandon Sklenar and Michele Morrone provide texture to the household’s moral ambiguity.
Feig’s direction treads a line between camp and psychological suspense. Viewers familiar with his earlier comedies may be surprised by how he applies a satirical eye to domestic horror, though some reviewers wished he had pushed the dark humor further instead of tightening the screws on melodrama alone.
How The Housemaid compares
If you’re tracing recent trends, The Housemaid sits alongside titles like Gone Girl and Netflix’s domestic-psychological thrillers that blend unreliable narration with wealthy-household scandal. It shares thematic DNA with classics of gaslighting and social satire — think of it as part Hitchcock, part modern glossy thriller — but filtered through Paul Feig’s sensibilities. For fans of Sweeney’s more intimate work or Seyfried’s muscular reinventions in recent years, this film offers a new angle on both performers.
Behind the scenes & trivia
Production leaned into practical set design to give the mansion a character of its own: many of the props and furnishings were chosen to reflect the family’s tendency to curate image over intimacy. Anecdotally, cast members reportedly rehearsed key emotional beats in-situ to capture a claustrophobic, lived-in tension. Lionsgate positioned the film as a holiday alternative — a deliberate strategy to attract viewers seeking something more sensational than seasonal fare.
Critical perspective
The divide in reviews points to a larger question about adaptations: how much of a best-selling novel’s apparatus survives translation to screen? Where some critics praise Feig’s theatricality and the cast’s magnetism, others see narrative slackness and missed opportunities. Ultimately, the film reads as a spirited experiment — not entirely successful for every viewer, but rarely dull.
‘The Housemaid is an energetic, slightly baroque psychodrama that benefits hugely from its leads,’ says film historian Marko Jensen. ‘Feig’s shift from comedy to thriller is surprising but coherent, and the film’s moral unease lingers after the credits roll.’
Who should watch it
If you enjoy glossy psychological thrillers, star-driven performances, or holiday releases that trade saccharine cheer for simmering suspense, The Housemaid is worth a look. If you expect a precise, faithful adaptation of the novel or a stroke-by-stroke logic for every twist, be prepared for a film that privileges tone and theatricality over airtight plotting.
As critics and audiences begin weighing in, The Housemaid has already become one of this season’s most talked-about late-year releases — a polarizing but watchable entry in the modern thriller canon.
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