BrandonSklenar – Credits Rolling

Based on the global phenomenon by Freida McFadden, The Housemaid follows Millie Calloway (Sydney Sweeney), a troubled young woman who is granted a fresh start as a maid for Nina (Amanda Seyfried) and Andrew (Brandon Sklenar) Winchester. Swapping living in her car for a room in the family mansion, Millie hopes things are finally turning around. But as the days pass, Millie discovers that the Winchesters have secrets far more sinister than she ever could have imagined.

As a huge fan of the 2022 book of the same title, I was very excited when they announced that it would be getting the big screen treatment. You know how sometimes when you’re reading something, you can really visualize it as a film or show? That is exactly what happened here. I could not wait to see how it would all unfold and I have to say that it is one of the more faithful adaptions I’ve seen in a long time.

While I may have been unsure of the casting choices at first, I was pleasantly surprised with the main trio. Sweeney, Seyfried and Sklenar were perfect as Millie, Nina and Andrew. Sure some of the descriptions differed from the book to the screen, but I didn’t really mind it as I got further into the story. Seyfried, in particular, was the standout. The way in which she would just switch from one second to another was genius. She was everything I could have hoped Nina would be and more.

With every page to screen adaption there are bound to be some changes. In the books, Enzo (Michele Morrone) is a much more prominent character. I’m not sure why they decided to cut down his scenes as I would have liked to see that play out. Additionally, a lot of the ending was altered. I actually felt like these changes made sense; the final act in a thriller is usually all or nothing. The stakes are high and the audience needs to feel the adrenaline running through their bodies. I was left on the edge of my seat throughout these sequences and I liked how even though I had read the book, there were still a couple of surprises left for me.

Overall, The Housemaid was a ton of fun! The performances were well done, the plot engaging and it kept me on the edge of my seat. With how successful this has been already, I hope that they decide to adapt the second and third books as well.

Rating: ♥️♥️♥️♥️

Colleen Hoover’s novel It Ends With Us took the world by storm when it first came out in 2016. Now it has been adapted for the screen. The story follows Lily Bloom (Blake Lively), a woman who moves to Boston in hopes of opening a flower shop after a traumatic childhood. She meets neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni) and is swept up is his charm and good looks. But when Lily runs into her first love Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar), her relationship with Ryle takes a turn for the worse.

There was a lot of backlash over the casting for the film. Many thought that the actors chosen were too old for the roles and they weren’t who the fans had previously envisioned. Although I read the book, I didn’t have anybody in mind so that didn’t bother me too much. I just decided to go into it as blindly as I could. I actually ended up being pleasantly surprised.

Lively gave a powerful performance as our protagonist. I’ve been a fan of hers for a while now and the way in which she portrayed each of Lily’s mannerisms and emotions was spot on. Sklenar worked perfectly as Atlas; his chemistry with Lively was exactly what I had hoped it would be. Jenny Slate, who played Lily’s best friend Allysa, and Hasan Minhaj who was Allysa’s husband provided some much needed comic relief. I was also very impressed with Isabela Ferrer and Alex Neustaedter who took on the roles of young Lily and Atlas. The former was almost like a carbon copy of Lively, it was insane. The only person I had a problem with was Baldoni as Ryle. He simply was not convincing enough for me.

The subject matter at play here is not for the faint hearted. Domestic violence is something that men and women deal with all the time and that question of whether the victim should stay or leave is not as black and white as everyone thinks it is. I thought the way in which this was depicted on screen was very tastefully done. It took some time for those who weren’t aware to figure out exactly what was going on and it really made you feel for every character in the situation.

I was one of those skeptical people who wasn’t sure if It Ends With Us should be made into a film. While I did enjoy the book on some level, I understand those people who didn’t. It was much better than I was expecting it to be and it certainly tugged on my heartstrings! Despite how heavy it got at times, I did love seeing Lily Bloom’s come to life as well as ogling all the fashion choices and digging the soundtrack.

Rating: ♥️♥️♥️