The Woman in the House review: star-studded thriller parody with off-the-wall edge
While The Woman in the House delivers laugh-out-loud gags at times, its attempt to straddle both spoof and thriller territory can feel tonally jarring.
Psychological thrillers have been a densely populated film genre for decades now, with newer releases like I'm Thinking of Ending Things and Nightmare Alley joining a long list that started with 1944's Gaslight, an Ingrid Bergman film that inspired the term gaslighting – a commonly used verb meaning to make someone question their own reality.
However, over the last few years there's been a renaissance of Gaslight-esque thrillers, in which A-list actresses star as complicated women with voyeuristic tendencies who witness crimes that others insist did not happen. Whether it's Emily Blunt in The Girl on the Train or Amy Adams in The Woman in the Window, this weirdly specific trope just keeps popping up – and so when Netflix announced the release of its upcoming parody and ultimate tongue-twister The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window, the timing couldn't have been more perfect.
Created by Adult Swim regulars Rachel Ramras, Hugh Davidson and Larry Dorf, The Woman in the House – (if you think I'm typing out the show's full name every time, then think again) – stars Frozen's Kristen Bell as a very different Anna this time: a divorced woman who spends her days sat in her suburban house, staring out of the front window with a comically large glass of red wine, gulped down every morning with a fistful of anxiety medication. When handsome British widower Neil (Tom Riley) and his daughter move in across the street, Anna begins to feel optimistic about herself, with the hope of family life a possibility once again, however when she spots a gruesome murder take place in his front room, she starts to question everything – including her own sanity.
The Woman in the House hits all the hallmarks of the films it sets out to satirise; Bell plays a raging alcoholic and former painter agonising over the brutal (but ridiculously absurd) death of her daughter years prior – yet somehow she still manages to look like the most glamorous woman on the planet in a home taken straight from the pages of House and Garden magazine. Not to mention, Anna has a dramatic phobia of the rain – causing her to faint and break the many casserole dishes she insists on taking over to her new neighbour.
Add in the overly concerned friend (Mary Holland), Tom's mysterious girlfriend Lisa (Shelley Hennig) and the creepy handyman (Cameron Britton) and you get feels as though one of the shows that features in 30 Rock has been turned into its own eight-part series.
The incredibly long title would lead you to expect The Woman in the House to be an all-out parody à la the Scary Movie franchise, however the actual murder mystery is more diluted than you would expect, mixing moments of full-on farce with elements of a sincere thriller. While this does make sense as eight episodes of spoof comedy packed with caricature-esque gags could get a bit tired, it does mean that the show can feel tonally jarring at points. There are points where you're genuinely gripped by the mystery at hand and then suddenly Kristen Bell lets out a melodramatic scream and drops yet another casserole dish, reminding you that what you're watching is a reminder of just how ridiculous these shows can be.
That is certainly part of the fun though and the show's stars whole-heartedly lean into it, with Tom Riley putting in a multi-faceted and hilarious performance as boy-next-door Neil, who is Prince Charming one minute and a person of interest the next. Bell, whose comedic prowess we're already aware of thanks to her roles in The Good Place, Parks and Recreation, Bad Moms and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, is unsurprisingly excellent as the stereotypical leading lady Anna, however I would have liked to see more of Cameron Britton (Mindhunter, Shrill), who steals the show at times as Anna's longtime handyman Buell.
While there were moments in The Woman in the House that made me laugh out loud and others that had me on the edge of my seat, the series would have gelled more had it included a few more satirical punches. That being said, the show's volatile tone does give it an off-the-wall edge – the like of which Netflix hasn't seen before – and is a welcome addition to the overcrowded list of same-y thrillers.
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The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window arrives on Netflix on January 28th.
Check out our lists of the best series on Netflix and the best movies on Netflix, or see what else is on with our TV Guide.
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