The Woman in the Window Parent Guide

It’s been years since agoraphobic Anna Fox (Amy Adams) left her Manhattan brownstone. That hasn’t stopped her from keeping an eye on the neighbors, and she can usually give her psychologist, Dr. Landy (Tracy Letts) a thorough briefing on the comings and goings on the street. So when a new family moves into the house opposite, Anna knows all about it and welcomes the new neighbor, Jane Russell (Julianne Moore) who drops by for a visit.

The new friendship cheers Anna, so it’s not surprising that she’s horrified when she looks across the street and sees Jane fatally stabbed. But when the police arrive, they bring Mr. and Mrs. Russel with them. Alistair Russel (Gary Oldman) is Jane’s husband but the Jane Russel (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who accompanies him, alive and unscathed, is not the woman Anna knows.

Reeling from her experience, Anna continues to hunt for evidence to prove that she witnessed a murder. But she receives no support from the police, and everyone knows that the medication she takes for agoraphobia has some unusual side effects…

While this film is ostensibly based on a novel and not the classic film, Rear Window, the parallels are too close to ignore. And anytime you start treading on directorial toes, you want to be sure you can at least match the quality of the original. Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible to match Hitchcock at his prime, and Rear Window is one of the best films he ever made. To make an audience accept this movie on its own terms, The Woman in the Window is going to have to knock your socks clean off. And it really, really doesn’t. If anything, my socks are more securely attached than ever.

I can’t fault the cast. Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Gary Oldman, Anthony Mackie…there’s enough talent here to make three or four good movies. Director Joe Wright has certainly made capable films before too, including the ever popular 2005 Pride and Prejudice adaptation and, more recently, Darkest Hour, which earned Gary Oldman an Oscar for Best Actor. It would seem the fault lies in the screenplay.

What starts as a fairly convincing, if unoriginal, thriller slowly devolves into a tacky horror flick. Apart from the dialogue feeling wooden and inhuman most of the time, the story simply cannot bear up under the weight of the audience’s expectations. You look at the cast and the similarities to Hitchcock, and you expect brilliance. When you’re served this tepid plate of mushy clichés and contrived jump scares instead, you’re rightfully disappointed. Add to that heavy drinking and much more profanity than Hitchcock ever used, and you have a movie in search of an audience. Perhaps the only success here is in making me want to re-watch Rear Window. Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly never let me down.