What a sad, pathetic, and routine “Rear Window” ripoff.
As you know “The Woman in the Window” was supposed to come out in theaters last year, but because of you know what, it has just been placed on Netflix, still under the 20th Century Studios releasing. Either way, it’s one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen-a tone-deaf, stupid, pointless, and aimless thriller with such a wasted cast. Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Gary Oldman, Anthony Mackie, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Brian Tyree Henry, and Wyatt Russell-all of them are excellent talents, but how could they all succumb to the cliches, twists, and anger?
This is the first movie director Joe Wright has made since “Darkest Hour,” and it’s his lousiest since “Pan.” The screenplay by Tracy Letts is based on the novel by A.J. Finn, but, I mean, come on. This just a recycled copy of “Rear Window,” and that movie is a Hitchcock classic. See that, instead of this mess.
Adams plays Anna Fox, an agoraphobic child psychiatrist, who is currently separated from her husband (Mackie), visits another shrink (Letts) for her problems, and uses an umbrella if she has to go outside. After being attacked by Halloween tricksters, she faints (or something like fainting, as she says), and wakes up to one of her new neighbors Jane Russell (Moore). She’s also visited by her husband Alistair (Oldman) and her son Ethan (Fred Hechinger), and Anna decides to become Jimmy Stewart by spying on them. The boy might be being abused by his father, and the wife gets stabbed. But when she calls the police, she is led to believe that she never met Jane, and this one is played by Jennifer Jason Leigh.
They could say she’s crazy, because she lives with a cat named Punch, drinks red wine, and pops pills. So the detectives (Henry and Jeanine Serralles) believe Alistair, and Anna continues to spy on them. The wife tells her to stop spying on them, Ethan tells her to stop, and even Alistair threatens her. And on the side, she comes to suspect that the Jane she talked to is having an affair with her tenant (Russell).
Adams is one of my mom’s favorite actresses, and she’s also a favorite of mine as well. She’s played some of the best characters in “Enchanted,” “Arrival,” and “American Hustle,” among others, but in “The Woman in the Window,” she wastes her talents and flounders about looking like a crazy woman. Like I said, they think she’s crazy, and if she wasn’t, then she shouldn’t take pills with her wine. Hechinger’s credits include “Eighth Grade,” “Let Them All Talk,” and “News of the World,” but his acting here is lame, and if his character was allergic to cats, then he wouldn’t be playing with Anna’s cat. And Oldman comes at Adams with cheap shots and cheesy words.
And speaking of cheap shots, some of the scenes are placed in strange formats, when they transcend from one image to the next. They’re badly lit, and cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel has made “Amelie,” “Inside Llewyn Davis,” and “Darkest Hour,” among others look like classics, and they are.
You couldn’t have asked for some very dopey dialogue, or the routine twists and turns. If it was written by intelligent people, then they should have been smarter. Even the last 20 minutes are filled with complete idiocy. I previously reviewed Angelina Jolie in the thriller “Those Who Wish Me Dead,” which is playing simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max. If you had to choose between watching it in theaters or on your computer or TV, or watching “The Woman in the Window” on Netflix, then take my advise. Plus you have better shows to stream with your red wine and candles.
☠️ Poison for the Mind (0/4)
Streaming on Netflix
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