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How many times have you heard something along the lines of "oh, this film has phenomenal actors, surely it must be great"? Obviously, countless examples defend or contradict this last statement, but unfortunately, the average moviegoer often gives more credit to the cast than to the director(s) and/or writer(s). This means that when a movie is truly amazing, actors receive the best compliments even if they didn't contribute as much as the other two filmmaking roles. However, when a film turns out to be a massive disappointment, the cast rarely gets the worst commentaries.
The Woman in the Window is the perfect example of a movie that should have never created high expectations. Contrary to what people might think, this Joe Wright's film went through non-stop delays, even before the pandemic began. Netflix wasn't even the original distributor, but the general audience doesn't care about production issues. If the cast boasts some well-known, fan-favorite actors, most viewers will highly anticipate that movie without ever thinking about who's directing or writing it. It's no surprise that this adaptation of A. J. Finn's novel is a strong contender for the following year's Razzies…
From the confusing editing work (Valerio Bonelli) - probably due to the constant re-edits - to the tremendously forced dialogues, Tracy Letts' screenplay is packed with problems concerning basically every single character interaction. The overall narrative is an utter mess that never finds its footing, ending in a convoluted, nonsensical, incredibly fake-looking film. Everything feels overdramatic, extremely fictional, and emotionless. Amy Adams, Gary Oldman, Julianne Moore, and all the other popular actors struggle so much with their scripts that some of them genuinely deliver an awful caricature of themselves.
Honestly, the only reason this doesn't get my lowest grade is due to a couple of actors that actually try to make the story a little less unbearable.
Rating: D-
Excellent watch, would watch again, and do recommend.
For Hitchcock fans, this is sort of a spiritual successor to "Rear Window", and an excellent one.
Amy Adams is fantastic, the story is detailed and quality through and through, and the presentation is on point.
This is good enough that I'm not going to risk spoiling the movie by going on here, but this is completely worth the watch.
