IN BRIEF: Murder most foul.
JIM'S REVIEW: (NOT RECOMMENDED) The Woman in the Window could have and should have been better. Now, everyone who knows me knows that I love a good mystery... Line up the red herrings and start deducing the motives and mystery. But this movie is one plot contrivance after the next. All of the characters are slightly off, from the erratic tenant downstairs to the strange family next door. The story is all set-up leading to an unsatisfying conclusion filled with lots of LOL (Leaps of Logic), cheap thrills, and a sad feeling of déjà vu.
You may have seen this story before: An incapacitated person may have witnessed a murder nearby and is unable to convince others of the dastardly deed. The inability to leave the home creates a dangerous scenario for our hero in Alfred Hitchcock suspense classic, Rear Window...oh, wait, I have the wrong movie...or do I? This movie wants to appear as an homage to that great 1954 mystery, but it is a shameless rip-off, re-envisioned for today's audience...only this time we have a female protagonist dealing with mental issues who is emotionally confined to her house and sees a murder across the street. Amy Adams takes over the Jimmy Stewart part, minus the plaster cast, wheelchair, and Grace Kelly. (And where's Thelma Ritter when you need her?)
Ms. Adams plays Dr. Anna Fox, a child psychologist in need of one herself. She suffers from agoraphobia and alcoholism and she dare not venture outside. But fear not, persons will knock on her door for a pop-in visit to involve her in a shroud of mystery. It seems The Russells, a new family moving in across the street, don't know their limits and start their good neighbor policy rather quickly: Evan (Fred Hechinger) comes over to talk and share his story of possible abuse, temperamental father Alistair (Gary Oldman) bursts in sometimes, and his wife Jane (Julianne Moore) befriends Anna. Strange goings-on may not be what they seem to be. Or are they? ...Especially the murder of her newest friend. Was Jane's death real or imagined, a hallucination from Anna's daily wine and med regime or actually a grisly crime? The twists come rapidly to hold the moviegoer's interest, yet only one big reveal works midway through the film. Most of the time one wonders about her sanity or your own for watching this dumb predictable tale.
This disappointing movie is directed by the usually reliable Joe Wright with huge chunks of flash and gimmicks that tend to imbalance the narrative. All of his theatrical excesses may add some style to the proceedings but cannot hide the woeful script by the talented Tracy Letts (who also plays Anna's psychiatrist). His screenplay adaptation is based on a best-selling novel by A. J. Finn, with some major rewrites and plot changes I am told. Except for Ms. Adams who makes the most of this showy role, the acting is overwrought, particularly the emoting of Mr. Hechinger, Wyatt Russell as the mercurial lodger, and an underused Jennifer Jason Leigh in a smaller role.
The Woman in the Window remains baffling, even after the movie ends, Its transparency to build a suspenseful mystery is admirable. But the end result is opaque in its storytelling, cliché-ridden, and as clear as mud. Avoid. (GRADE: C-)
JIM'S REVIEW: (NOT RECOMMENDED) The Woman in the Window could have and should have been better. Now, everyone who knows me knows that I love a good mystery... Line up the red herrings and start deducing the motives and mystery. But this movie is one plot contrivance after the next. All of the characters are slightly off, from the erratic tenant downstairs to the strange family next door. The story is all set-up leading to an unsatisfying conclusion filled with lots of LOL (Leaps of Logic), cheap thrills, and a sad feeling of déjà vu.
You may have seen this story before: An incapacitated person may have witnessed a murder nearby and is unable to convince others of the dastardly deed. The inability to leave the home creates a dangerous scenario for our hero in Alfred Hitchcock suspense classic, Rear Window...oh, wait, I have the wrong movie...or do I? This movie wants to appear as an homage to that great 1954 mystery, but it is a shameless rip-off, re-envisioned for today's audience...only this time we have a female protagonist dealing with mental issues who is emotionally confined to her house and sees a murder across the street. Amy Adams takes over the Jimmy Stewart part, minus the plaster cast, wheelchair, and Grace Kelly. (And where's Thelma Ritter when you need her?)
Ms. Adams plays Dr. Anna Fox, a child psychologist in need of one herself. She suffers from agoraphobia and alcoholism and she dare not venture outside. But fear not, persons will knock on her door for a pop-in visit to involve her in a shroud of mystery. It seems The Russells, a new family moving in across the street, don't know their limits and start their good neighbor policy rather quickly: Evan (Fred Hechinger) comes over to talk and share his story of possible abuse, temperamental father Alistair (Gary Oldman) bursts in sometimes, and his wife Jane (Julianne Moore) befriends Anna. Strange goings-on may not be what they seem to be. Or are they? ...Especially the murder of her newest friend. Was Jane's death real or imagined, a hallucination from Anna's daily wine and med regime or actually a grisly crime? The twists come rapidly to hold the moviegoer's interest, yet only one big reveal works midway through the film. Most of the time one wonders about her sanity or your own for watching this dumb predictable tale.
This disappointing movie is directed by the usually reliable Joe Wright with huge chunks of flash and gimmicks that tend to imbalance the narrative. All of his theatrical excesses may add some style to the proceedings but cannot hide the woeful script by the talented Tracy Letts (who also plays Anna's psychiatrist). His screenplay adaptation is based on a best-selling novel by A. J. Finn, with some major rewrites and plot changes I am told. Except for Ms. Adams who makes the most of this showy role, the acting is overwrought, particularly the emoting of Mr. Hechinger, Wyatt Russell as the mercurial lodger, and an underused Jennifer Jason Leigh in a smaller role.
The Woman in the Window remains baffling, even after the movie ends, Its transparency to build a suspenseful mystery is admirable. But the end result is opaque in its storytelling, cliché-ridden, and as clear as mud. Avoid. (GRADE: C-)