MicheleMorrone – 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: ♥️♥️♥️♥️

Taking place five years after the events of the first film, Another Simple Favor reunites Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) and Emily Nelson (Blake Lively) for a new mystery. When Emily asks Stephanie to be her maid of honor, Stephanie reluctantly agrees. She’s whisked away to Capri for the celebrations, but when one of the guests is murdered, Stephanie starts to worry that she won’t make it home in one piece.

I was a big fan of the first film. It was quippy, smart and sexy and the cast were phenomenal. This may be the sequel that nobody asked for (I feel like everything was wrapped up well before), but I still found myself looking forward to revisiting this world.

Kendrick and Lively reprise their roles effortlessly. It was like no time had passed at all. They have such a playful and organic chemistry that I could literally watch them for hours. The hijinks that ensued this time around were even more insane and yet it somehow still worked. Another returning face was Henry Goulding’s Sean, Emily’s ex husband and Stephanie’s former paramour. Clearly struggling with what happened in the past, he’s turned to drink. While you can’t help but feel bad for him, he also has some of the best lines in the whole film. There are some new players this time around: Allison Janey is Emily’s offbeat aunt Linda, Alex Newell is Stephanie’s bubbly assistant Vicky and Michele Morrone is Emily’s new beau the elusive Dante Versano. They each fit in perfectly.

Some may say that there’s too much going on this time around. There’s more twists, more turns and not all of them make sense, but that’s okay. As long as you allow yourself to lean into it, I think it is much more enjoyable. There’s a lot of really fun callbacks to the original as well which I appreciated. I also need to give a shoutout to the outfits that were worn by the cast. Absolutely beautiful.

If it wasn’t for Paul Feig, I probably wouldn’t have even bothered with Another Simple Favor. At least having him at the helm meant that we’d be in safe hands. Set against the beautiful backdrop of Capri with brilliant lead performances by our two leading ladies and the over the top story it seemed like it could all fall apart. Luckily that was far from being the case.

Rating: ♥️♥️♥️.5