"'Nightbitch' stars Amy Adams as a mother who is so full of rage about her loss of identity" that she becomes feral and starts turning into a dog, said Deborah Ross in The Spectator.
There's nothing I can say to make the film sound less weird than it is – "she grows a tail! extra nipples!" – but actually, other than the dog stuff, it's a "less wild" story than it sounds.
'Heavy-handed' in parts
Adams's character – who is only ever referred to as "Mother" – hasn't worked since she had a son two years ago. Her husband (Scoot McNairy) isn't a monster, but he doesn't help much and seems somewhat detached.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The film is "heavy-handed" in parts, and it hasn't much to say about motherhood and society that we haven't heard before, but Adams is "wonderfully watchable throughout, and I wasn't ever bored". In fact, "I'm going to stick my neck out and say it": this may be the "best film about a woman turning into a dog that you'll see this year".
Pretty 'silly'
The performances in this "fantasy-satire" are decent enough, said Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian, and the "straightforward, realistic, non-dog" scenes are excellent on how "stressful and terrifying unsupported parenthood can be". But I must say I found the dog bits pretty "silly". The mother develops a "freaky look in the eye", a hunger for meat and a need to gallop around, killing things. It's neither "properly scary" to watch her do this, nor "properly funny".
Adams is admirably "un-vain" throughout, at one point scampering about on all fours, said Nick Curtis in The London Standard. Yet for a film that's "all about the loss of identity", there's no real sense of the person her character was before motherhood, and all the other characters are just "flat stereotypes".
-
Health insurance: Premiums soar as ACA subsidies endFeature 1.4 million people have dropped coverage
-
Anthropic: AI triggers the ‘SaaSpocalypse’Feature A grim reaper for software services?
-
NIH director Bhattacharya tapped as acting CDC headSpeed Read Jay Bhattacharya, a critic of the CDC’s Covid-19 response, will now lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
-
Kia EV4: a ‘terrifically comfy’ electric carThe Week Recommends The family-friendly vehicle has ‘plush seats’ and generous space
-
Bonfire of the Murdochs: an ‘utterly gripping’ bookThe Week Recommends Gabriel Sherman examines Rupert Murdoch’s ‘war of succession’ over his media empire
-
Gwen John: Strange Beauties – a ‘superb’ retrospectiveThe Week Recommends ‘Daunting’ show at the National Museum Cardiff plunges viewers into the Welsh artist’s ‘spiritual, austere existence’
-
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl: A win for unityFeature The global superstar's halftime show was a celebration for everyone to enjoy
-
Book reviews: ‘Bonfire of the Murdochs’ and ‘The Typewriter and the Guillotine’Feature New insights into the Murdoch family’s turmoil and a renowned journalist’s time in pre-World War II Paris
-
6 exquisite homes with vast acreageFeature Featuring an off-the-grid contemporary home in New Mexico and lakefront farmhouse in Massachusetts
-
Film reviews: ‘Wuthering Heights,’ ‘Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die,’ and ‘Sirat’Feature An inconvenient love torments a would-be couple, a gonzo time traveler seeks to save humanity from AI, and a father’s desperate search goes deeply sideways
-
A thrilling foodie city in northern JapanThe Week Recommends The food scene here is ‘unspoilt’ and ‘fun’
