Netflix's habit of buying movies from traditional studios, thus avoiding potentially disappointing box office returns, works both ways for subscribers. The recent heartfelt family film, The Mitchells vs the Machines, shows what happens when it works, for example, which was also the case with Aaron Sorkin's Oscar-winning The Trial of the Chicago Seven. On the less successful side, it offers a mediocre sci-fi offering like The Cloverfield Paradox, or a boring thriller like This Weekend's The Woman in the Window. Originally filmed in 2018 and based on a book by AJ Finn, the story basically boils down to a riff on Hitchcock's rear window. Agoraphobic child psychologist Anna Fox lives in a New York City house, separate from her own children. After Anna bonds with her new neighbor, Jane Russell (Julianne Moore), the wife of a devious doctor (Gary Oldman), she watches her new friend get stabbed to death in her house. Or is it her? The doctor claims that Anna has never met her wife and another woman (Jennifer Jason Leigh) shows up and says that she is the real Jane Russell. The Russells' son Ethan, who Anna also connects with, confirms his father's version of events. Anna begins to question her own perception of reality, as the police doubt her story.
Snoop sweatpants
(Image credit: Melinda Sue Gordon) Much of this movie boils down to Amy Adams, in sweatpants, spying on her neighbors in a nice apartment. But the film doesn't have the tension that a (mostly) one-place movie really needs, and packs in big twists and exposition with the energy of a smooth pocket-thriller. It draws inspiration from panic room and hatchback in terms of style and pacing, but lacks imagination or clean flavor.
Everyone who has this movie is too good-looking for that. Aside from Adams, Oldman, and Moore, the cast for the set includes a host of familiar faces like Brian Tyree Henry, Wyatt Russell, and Anthony Mackie, making you wonder if everyone else signed on thinking he was going to do the next one. Gone. Little girl; which is to say, an elevated thriller that subverts some of the brown tropes you associate with airport detective stories. But he just doesn't have the same layers in terms of characterization, or a careful hand in the way he develops his turns.
In fact, at least twice, people appear on the screen to explain the twists and turns of the plot.
After The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, it's strange to see the charming Wyatt Russell again underused, this time as Anna's mysterious basement owner David. Meanwhile, Oldman features so little in the film that it seems his role as a de facto villain has been scaled back in production. He shows up several times to insult Anna, calling her a pill-popping cat, which is surprisingly funny, and then he's gasping again.
Considering that Amy Adams was the star of HBO's Sharp Objects, one of the best mystery thrillers to ever hit the small screen, it's a staple role not befitting her talents. The film makes the questionable decision to use Anna's fragile sanity (and alcoholism) as a framework for determining whether or not we're supposed to believe her version of events; it might seem a bit more offensive if the movie wasn't so rubbish. in general.
There's no crime to be done in Hitchcock, and The Woman in the Window gets its big twists from the source material, obviously. It's strange that it manages to cram such a great cast, a proven director, and a hefty budget into a movie that feels pretty straightforward on DVD in the final product. The plot barely covers 100 minutes and features an almost useless epilogue that kills more time. It's a bit strange, and even in an era where theatrical releases are still uncertain, it's not worth adding to your watch list.
So the woman at the window didn't do much for us. This is exactly the kind of movie that has been threatened as a box office proposition: crime thrillers like The Fugitive dominated the '90s, and even now something like Knives Out can explode with the right mix of style, casting, and tagline. He had everything he needed on the table to be successful, but none of it was working.