Woman in the Window (2021) - Film Review

This seems to be the year of voyeuristic thrillers - the irony is not lost on me - and today's review will be delving into Joe Wright and Tracy Letts' adaptation of A.J. Finn's Woman in the Window. An agoraphobic woman living alone in New York begins spying on her new neighbours only to witness a disturbing act of violence.

This film felt like a hybrid of Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window and Paula Hawkins' Girl on the Train - the filming style was very similar to Hitchcock's cult classic and the unreliable narrator familiar from Hawkins' own work. Here is where my issue lied, this production did not stand out on its own nor did it feel unique. It was reminisce of stories we've seen or read before.

As I've not read the book, I'm just going on how Letts wrote the screenplay - which was quite predictable at times, I even guessed plot points that were written to be massive revelations later on. Wright also made some unusual creative choices later on, as well as playing it safe with cinematography familiar with this genre, one scene was jarring - a murder scene had a red effect that reminded me of an effect you'd find on iMovie. It was a shame that some of these scenes came across as juvenile or safe, because there were others that were quite beautiful with some gorgeous transitions.

I expected more from the creatives behind the camera, because this had a brilliant cast. Amy Adams was superb in this role, totally committing to the flawed and vulnerable character she was playing. She really gave strong performances, giving depth to a pretty simplistic script at times. This also had a strong supporting cast with Gary Oldman, Fred Hechinger, and Julianne Moore with Anthony Mackie, Wyatt Russell, Brian Tyree Henry, and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Which is what made this all the more disappointing, because the casting was overall great.

With such a strong cast, it was a shame they had little to work with in comparison to what they brought to their respective roles. Gary Oldman as Alistair Russell, Jane's husband and Ethan’s abusive father was surprisingly underwhelming - regardless of the context of the scene, he quite literally shouted his lines. Whereas Julianne Moore's character was an interesting addition, only in a handful of scenes and still played a unique character to her usual casting. Alongside Adams, the standout performances for me were Brian Tyree Henry as Det. Little, Anthony Mackie as Edward "Ed" Fox, Anna's husband, Mariah Bozeman as Olivia Fox, Anna and Edward's daughter.

Now the revelations - there were one or two surprises, as in who did it and why. However, the bland narrative beats and on the nose dialogue made the overall sequence pretty predictable. Fred Hechinger as Ethan Russell, Alistair and Jane's son gave surprising performances towards the end - the way Hechinger switched personas was eerie, but very effective... especially as I initially thought he was written to be a throwaway character. The murder reveal had potential, but then trailed into cliché territory.

The plot seemed a little too easily resolved by the conclusion - upon reflection, Adams' character had time from that nine month time-jump to work on the healing process especially given the trauma Anna goes through. Yet, we got a pretty standard happy ending.

This actually made me want to read the original novel, but this film slid into the voyeuristic thriller genre rather well. Unfortunately, like I stated - this was a bit too familiar and can easily be compared to past productions. Therefore, I would give this film ★★★ - Adam leads a strong cast, but unfortunately the screenplay and direction fell back on familiar tropes,