Stanko's Stance

“An agoraphobic woman living alone in New York begins spying on her new neighbors, only to witness a disturbing act of violence.”

Director: Joe Wright
Writer: Tracy Letts, A.J. Finn
Staring: Amy Adams, Gary Oldman, Anthony Mackie
Streaming: Netflix
Release Date: May 14, 2021

If anyone told you that Amy Adams, Gary Oldman, Anthony Mackie and Julianne Moore would be in a movie based off a best selling novel, you would expect it to be decent right? In the case of The Woman In The Window (2021), you would be dead wrong.

The Woman In The Window is a Netflix original that with movie stars that the same uninspiring viewing experience as Deadly Illusions (2021). Everything about the this movie is a mess; the screenplay is childish, the acting is bad, the direction is elementary and the tone is inconsistent at best. There are some scene transitions that are dreadful; like not even worth arguing about. How in the hell did that fake blood transition get in there? What are you doing Joe Wright?

Now that nobody wants to watch the movie, the plot is very simple. Anna Fox (Amy Adams) is a depressed shut-in suffering from agoraphobia in a ridiculously nice (unrealistic really) apartment/house in NYC. To pass the time, Fox studies her neighbors, doing a really bad imitation of Rear Window (1954). New neighbors move in across the street and Fox’s world is turned upside down when she believes she sees a murder of someone who had introduced herself to Fox just the day prior. The Woman In The Window attempts to become a story of mistrust; do you believe the alcoholic main character, the over-acting and happy to be hear Gary Oldman as an abusive father, or the creepy downstairs neighbor?

The answer to that question is: who cares?

Amy Adams. What has happened? Adams’ last three movies are The Woman In The Window, Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021), and Hillbilly Elegy (2020). Two of these movies have been attempts at award prestige but fall short of any true recognition. Snyder’s Justice League is better than the original but Adams is in the movie for a total of maybe five minutes? Adams was good in Vice (2018), and very good in Sharp Objects (2018) on HBO. Adams’ last great performance is Arrival (2016). That movie is great. Adams’, we are all rooting for you. Get back on the winning tracks!

Okay, back to The Woman In The Window for a bit. There are two twists in the movie, one that is not terrible, but the second is beyond predictable and horribly acted out. When we get to see why Anna is suffering from all of her mental health struggles, it illuminates at least a corner of her personality room. However, when the answer as to whether or not Anna truly saw a crime or not is shown, all you want to do is roll your eyes.

The Woman In The Window had a rocky road and was seemingly doomed from the start. The movie was shot in 2018 and and was set to be released originally in 2019. Initial receptions to the movie from test audiences were…bad….so reshoots and rewrites had to happen. There were multiple pushbacks of its release date and Netflix came into possession of the movie from Fox 2000 before they foreclosed.

Much like the movie’s release, The Woman In The Window has no flow. There are few to anything redeemable about this movie. I didn’t even touch on how Julianne Moore and Gary Oldman felt like they had zero interest in being there. The movie is a complete skip.

Is it just me, but is Netflix missing a lot on their own movies?

STANKO RATING: F+ (1.0/5)

Stanko Excel Lists | Movies, Books, Podcasts. TV Shows
Stanko Letterdbox Account

“Stanko’s Stance” Podcast Feed (Apple)
“Stanko’s Stance” Podcast Feed (Spotify