---
title: "The Housemaid"
year: 2025
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-housemaid"
fi1m_id: "the-housemaid"
imdb_id: "tt27543632"
tmdb_id: 1368166
wikidata_id: "Q131630491"
fi1m_score: 66
critics_score: 71
critics_reviews: 12
published: "2026-09-09"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:37:46.920128+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Housemaid (2025)

Directed by Paul Feig · 2h 11m · MPA R · Mystery, Thriller

## Identity

The Housemaid

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-housemaid
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** the-housemaid
- **IMDb ID:** tt27543632
- **TMDB ID:** 1368166
- **Wikidata ID:** Q131630491
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27543632/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1368166, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q131630491

**Fi1m score: 66** · Critics 71 from 12 reviews

*In a sentence:* Sydney Sweeney cleans an already spotless house while Amanda Seyfried comes apart in it, at volume

> Paul Feig’s adaptation of the airport-novel hit is an hour of polite drift followed by an hour of proper trash, and Amanda Seyfried is the reason to sit through the first to reach the second. It is fun; it is also 131 minutes.

## Synopsis

Millie Calloway (Sydney Sweeney) has a criminal record, no fixed address and a car she has been sleeping in. The only job that will take her is live-in housemaid to Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried), her husband Andrew (Brandon Sklenar) and their young daughter Cece (Indiana Elle), in a house with more rooms than people. Millie is given a small room in the attic, and the door locks from the outside. Nina is warm at the interview and something else by the following morning. Enzo (Michele Morrone), the gardener, tries to warn her. Paul Feig directs from Rebecca Sonnenshine’s screenplay, adapted from Freida McFadden’s novel.

## Review

Paul Feig has adapted Freida McFadden’s novel, the one that has been in everyone’s hand luggage for three years, and he has done it more or less straight. Millie Calloway (Sydney Sweeney) has a criminal record, is sleeping in her car, and takes the only job that will have her: live-in housemaid to Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried), her handsome husband Andrew (Brandon Sklenar) and their daughter Cece (Indiana Elle). Her room is in the attic and the door locks from the outside. Nina is charming at the interview and something else by breakfast the next day.

For an hour *The Housemaid* is a household thriller of the familiar kind, done competently and not much better. For its second hour it is wilder, louder and a good deal more fun. It is worth an evening if you are prepared to sit through the first part to get to the second, and it would be a better film at 100 minutes than at 131.

Nina is the part people will talk about, and Seyfried plays her with the dial turned all the way up: sweet, then vicious, then in tears, then sweet again, often inside a single scene. She wrecks rooms Millie has just cleaned and blames her for the mess. We laughed out loud at her more than once and we were meant to, because Seyfried knows precisely what sort of film she is in. The surprise is that she can also make Nina frightening, and she does it by going quiet rather than louder.

The trouble is that the film belongs to Millie, and for its first hour Millie mostly stands there and takes it. Sweeney is watchful and likeable and gives Millie the wariness of someone who has learned not to argue with people who can sack her, but Rebecca Sonnenshine’s script leaves her little to do beyond being mistreated and noticing things. Michele Morrone’s Enzo turns up at intervals to warn her in Italian she cannot understand, which is a running joke the film is only half in on. Sklenar’s Andrew is kind, reasonable and well dressed. Elizabeth Perkins, as his mother, gets two scenes and makes them count.

John Schwartzman shoots the house like a property listing, bright and even and clean, so that nothing casts a shadow until the film needs one. Elizabeth Jones’s production design gives the Winchesters white walls and glass downstairs and Millie a bare box under the roof, and most of the early unease comes from cutting between the two. Renee Ehrlich Kalfus dresses Nina in things that cost money and Millie in things that do not, and the film lets the clothes make the point without underlining it. Theodore Shapiro’s score jabs and swoons in the old manner, and we did not mind. Brent White cuts the first hour at a walk and the last forty minutes at a run, and the last forty minutes are the better ones.

Around the midpoint the film takes a turn we will not describe. What we can say is that it was the moment we sat forward, having spent the previous twenty minutes a little bored and slightly cross at being bored by something so plainly built for pleasure. Everything after the turn is played faster and closer to comedy, and the finale is preposterous in a way we enjoyed without reservation. Feig has always been better with a woman making a scene than a woman keeping her head down, and once his women are allowed to make scenes the film finds its feet.

*A Simple Favor* (2018) did this trick, suburban menace with a wink, in less time and with a lead who drove the story rather than survived it. Here the wink arrives an hour late. Against the household thrillers of the early nineties, the nannies and lodgers and new best friends, it is neither as nasty nor as tight, though it is better dressed than any of them.

See it with someone who will talk back to the screen. Do not ask it to mean anything; it does not, and unlike some of its admirers it is not claiming to. It runs 131 minutes and carries a 15 certificate.

*Fi1m score 66, published 9 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics enjoy The Housemaid as trashy, knowing fun, and the praise clusters on the two leads. Amanda Seyfried’s unhinged employer is the performance almost everyone singles out, with several reviews calling her shrill meltdowns the main reason to watch; Sydney Sweeney is admired more evenly, with The Times preferring her resilient housemaid. The twists are widely liked, as is Paul Feig’s willingness to let the film be a 90s-style erotic thriller played for camp.

The reservations are about pacing and plot: a slow first half, an overlong runtime, and a mystery several reviewers find thin, with Collider finding the film uneven until a wild finale rescues it. The spread is wide. Screen Daily and Little White Lies call it dull and ludicrous, saying the gloss cannot hide weak writing, and Empire and Slant judge it toothless and slack. The consensus is that it works if you accept the hokum, and not at all if you do not.

## Straight answers

**Is The Housemaid worth watching?**

*The Housemaid* is worth an evening for anyone who enjoys a household thriller that turns into proper trash halfway through, and we scored it 66. The first hour is polite and a little dull; the second is louder, faster and much more fun, mostly because Amanda Seyfried plays Nina with the dial turned all the way up. It would be a better film at 100 minutes than at 131.

**How long is The Housemaid, and what is it rated?**

*The Housemaid* runs 2h 11m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a mystery and thriller film.

**Where can I watch The Housemaid in the US?**

*The Housemaid* is streaming on Starz, The Roku Channel, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV in the US, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV from $5.99. It leaves The Roku Channel on 1 October. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is The Housemaid, and is it suitable for children?**

*The Housemaid* carries a 15 certificate in the UK and an R in the US, and it is not for children. It is a thriller about a live-in maid locked into an attic room and mistreated by a volatile employer, and the second half is wilder and closer to comedy than to horror. Teenagers old enough for the certificate and viewers who like their menace with a wink should be fine.

**How does The Housemaid compare to Rebecca?**

*The Housemaid* and [*Rebecca*](https://film.one/film/rebecca) both put a nervous young woman in a rich house with a dangerous woman in it, but Hitchcock's film is the better and the more unsettling of the two. *Rebecca* builds its unease slowly and takes it seriously; *The Housemaid* drifts for an hour and then plays its menace for laughs. Choose *Rebecca* for dread, and Feig's film for a noisy evening with friends.

**What should I watch after The Housemaid?**

After *The Housemaid*, try [*Rebecca*](https://film.one/film/rebecca) (1940, Fi1m 85): The original big house with a first wife in every room, and Hitchcock in charge. Then [*Gone Girl*](https://film.one/film/gone-girl) (2014, Fi1m 84): Marriage as a crime scene, with a mid-film turn that actually changes the film.

### Reviews we read (16)

- **Variety**, Owen Gleiberman (85/100, inferred): The critic describes it as an over-the-top yet clever domestic thriller that fools expectations and features standout performances from Sweeney and Seyfried. It appreciates the hyperbolic edge and stylish trickiness. [Read](https://variety.com/2025/film/reviews/the-housemaid-review-sydney-sweeney-amanda-seyfried-1236609667/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Katie Walsh (80/100, inferred): The review highlights Paul Feig's skill in delivering soapy, female-driven thrillers with comedy flair, calling it indulgent women's entertainment. It commends the lead actresses for embodying the film's steamy, twisty mystery. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2025-12-18/housemaid-review-sydney-sweeney-amanda-seyfried-paul-feig-freida-mcfadden)
- **Radio Times**, Terry Staunton (4/5): The review praises the film as a satisfyingly scary chiller that benefits from not taking itself too seriously. Amanda Seyfried is singled out for her wild-eyed, versatile performance as the unhinged employer. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/the-housemaid-review/)
- **The Guardian** (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the film an outrageously enjoyable psycho-suspense thriller in the style of 90s erotic noir, with over-the-top acting and clever twists. Feig and the cast deliver it with terrific gusto as an innocent holiday treat. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/dec/16/the-housemaid-review-sydney-sweeney-paul-feig)
- **The Telegraph**, Tim Robey (4/5): The absurd psycho-thriller is a scream thanks to combative lead performances from Sweeney and Seyfried, who rule the roost in turn. Seyfried steals scenes with her fabulously shrill meltdowns and knowing embrace of the hokum. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/housemaid-sydney-sweeney/)
- **The New York Times**, Alissa Wilkinson (75/100, inferred): The critic praises the film's twisty narrative and strong performances by Sweeney and Seyfried in a psychological thriller about secrets and empowerment behind facades. It notes the effective use of erotic thriller tropes updated for contemporary audiences. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/movies/the-housemaid-review-sydney-sweeney-amanda-seyfried.html)
- **Little White Lies**, Hannah Strong (2/2/2): The critic finds the adaptation ludicrous and unentertaining, a cut-and-paste thriller that fails to turn its flaws into camp appeal. Seyfried delivers a decent over-the-top performance amid otherwise weak writing and wooden leads. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-housemaid)
- **Screen Daily** (30/100, inferred): The critic calls the film a dull, style-over-substance schlocky adaptation of a problematic book, with a threadbare plot and obvious beats. It singles out the glossy visuals and kitschy vibe as insufficient to mask the thin characters and ill-advised central conceit. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-housemaid-review-amanda-seyfried-and-sydney-sweeney-play-dirty-in-schlocky-adaptation/5211953.article)
- **Empire**, Olly Richards: The critic calls it glossy nonsense and a tacky, ridiculous bargain-bin cousin to Feig's earlier thrillers, with weak mystery plotting and a passive lead that fails to build tension. Seyfried's manic energy as Nina stands out amid the slack pacing and overlong runtime, though the deranged final half-hour adds some chaotic fun. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/the-housemaid/)
- **Slant Magazine**, Anzhe Zhang: The review criticizes the film as toothless and tonally incongruous, praising the twist but noting it falls short of deeper themes, with unconvincing performances. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-housemaid-review-sydney-sweeney-amanda-seyfried/)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, David Rooney: The critic finds the twisty thriller entertaining holiday fare with strong performances, especially from Amanda Seyfried, but notes it holds back on camp and is too long. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/the-housemaid-review-amanda-seyfried-sydney-sweeney-1236450394/)
- **The Times**, Kevin Maher (★★★★☆): This is hugely enjoyable guilty-pleasure film-making, with Sweeney shining as the resilient housemaid in a daft domestic thriller full of pleasing touches and an audacious volte-face leading to a Grand Guignol finale. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/the-housemaid-review-sydney-sweeney-2m9qj5fqk)
- **The Wrap** (85/100, inferred): The critic finds it a winking comedy-thriller with genuine suspense and kitschy humor that delivers glorious, angry, hilarious, nail-biting fun. The review singles out the cast's enjoyment and Feig's assured handling of the high-camp tone and clever script. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/the-housemaid-review-sydney-sweeney-amanda-seyfried/)
- **Deadline**, Pete Hammond (80/100, inferred): The critic calls it a trashily entertaining, dizzying guilty pleasure that turns Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney into modern-day Davis and Crawford in a heightened operatic ride full of twists. He praises the audacity of the story, Feig's direction of the female stars, and the over-the-top performances as delicious fun. [Read](https://deadline.com/2025/12/the-housemaid-review-amanda-seyfried-sydney-sweeney-terror-1236649920/)
- **/Film**, Witney Seibold (8/10): The critic praises Paul Feig's assured direction of a tight, wicked script, noting the strong performances by Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried and the film's focus on class, abuse, and female solidarity. It is described as an immensely enjoyable thriller with effective twists and among Feig's best work. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/2047776/the-housemaid-movie-review/)
- **Collider**, Jeff Ewing (65/100, inferred): The film is uneven overall, with a slow and predictable first half that feels like a slog, but it delivers one of the year's most entertaining twists and a wildly campy, fun finale. Amanda Seyfried's stellar, wide-ranging performance stands out as a highlight amid the mixed results. [Read](https://collider.com/the-housemaid-movie-review-sydney-sweeney-amanda-seyfried/)

## Details

- **Director:** Paul Feig
- **Director:** Paul Feig
- **Screenplay:** Rebecca Sonnenshine
- **Cinematography:** John Schwartzman
- **Editor:** Brent White
- **Music:** Theodore Shapiro
- **Production design:** Elizabeth Jones
- **Costume design:** Renee Ehrlich Kalfus
- **Producer:** Paul Feig, Todd Lieberman, Laura Allen Fischer
- **Cast:** Sydney Sweeney as Millie Calloway; Amanda Seyfried as Nina Winchester; Brandon Sklenar as Andrew Winchester; Michele Morrone as Enzo; Indiana Elle as Cece Winchester; Sarah Cooper as Pam; Elizabeth Perkins as Mrs. Winchester; Amanda Joy Erickson as Suzanne
- **Runtime:** 2h 11m
- **Certificate (MPA):** R
- **Release (the US):** 19 December 2025
- **Genres:** Mystery, Thriller
- **Budget:** $35 million
- **Box office:** $400 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqWH0KDqm3U

## Where to watch in the US

- Starz: streaming
- The Roku Channel: add-on, hd, leaving 2026-10-01
- Hulu: add-on, hd, leaving 2026-10-01
- Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd
- Apple TV: add-on, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: rent $5.99, uhd
- Apple TV: rent $5.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $7.99, uhd
- Apple TV: buy $9.99, hd

*Checked 2026-09-10.*

Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, IE, IN, IT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PL, PT, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *A Simple Favor* (2018): Feig’s earlier suburban thriller does the same trick, quicker and with a sharper lead
- *The Hand That Rocks the Cradle* (1992): The household-intruder thriller at its nastiest, with a proper villain and no wink
- *The Housemaid* (2010): Im Sang-soo’s Korean film on the same premise, colder, crueller and far more elegant
- *Rebecca* (1940), Fi1m 85: The original big house with a first wife in every room, and Hitchcock in charge — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/rebecca.md)
- *Gone Girl* (2014), Fi1m 84: Marriage as a crime scene, with a mid-film turn that actually changes the film — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/gone-girl.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-housemaid