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The Housemaid reviews are in, and critics say the movie is even more thrilling and crowd-pleasing than the hit novel.
Reviews for the film, directed by A Simple Favor’s Paul Feig, dropped on Tuesday, Dec. 16, with a majority of top critics saying the psychological thriller delivers on twists in an enjoyable way.
“People will certainly call The Housemaid a guilty pleasure. It was practically designed that way. But there should be no guilt in the enjoyment of this bonkers ride,” Graeme Guttmann wrote for ScreenRant.
IndieWire’s Kate Erbland said audiences “should absolutely see Paul Feig’s The Housemaid with a crowd … because this almost-camp adaptation is miles more fun when taken in with a raucous audience.”
Daniel McFadden/Lionsgate
In the film, Sydney Sweeney stars as Millie, who takes a job as a live-in housekeeper for the seemingly perfect Winchesters, Nina and Andrew, played by Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar. Things quickly spiral as Nina becomes an increasingly unhinged boss.
The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw highlighted the “tastily over-the-top acting” and added that “Feig and his cast deliver it with terrific gusto — this is an innocent holiday treat.”
Tim Robey wrote for The Telegraph that Seyfried “comes close to stealing the whole thing” as she “reads the tone of this hokum better than anyone, and knows restraint is hardly called for, using every excuse in the book to go completely bananas.”
Daniel McFadden/Lionsgate
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USA Today’s Brian Truitt called Seyfried a “force of nature throughout” and said the Mean Girls alum “gives herself completely to the movie’s madness, throwing food with maniacal gusto and tossing the kind of shade that would cower Regina George. Yet as unhinged as she gets to be, there’s also vulnerability and even caring in Nina’s well-crafted story arc.”
Pete Hammond wrote in a Deadline review that Seyfried “is a real hoot getting to chew the pretty scenery with such force you will feel like arresting her for overacting — but that is all on purpose and deliciously fun to watch her lose it.”
The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney said “the actors keep the wheels spinning through every bonkers development, particularly Seyfried.”
How does it stack up to the bestselling source material? (Author Freida McFadden, for one, has admitted she thinks the movie is better than her own book.)
Meagan Navarro wrote for Bloody Disgusting that the filmmakers “push the novel’s more outrageous aspects even further, injecting even bigger thrills, twists and stakes. It’s the type of operatic insanity that practically begs for more.”
Entertainment Weekly placed The Housemaid among its picks for the top 10 movies of 2025, writing “you won’t have more fun in a theater this year.”
The Housemaid is in theaters this Friday, Dec. 19.
