On December 19, 2025, The Housemaid, a movie full of shocking twists and turns starring Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried, and Brandon Sklenar, hit theaters and immediately became a hit, grossing more than $133 million worldwide in just 17 days of its release.
But is the popularity of the movie because of the plot? Is it because it was originally a book? Or simply the marketing? No.
The Housemaid is doing so well at the box office because of one thing: Amanda Seyfried.
After watching Seyfried deliver an Oscar-worthy performance in her role as Nina Winchester, a glamorous but unstable wife whose drastic mood swings keep Millie, her housemaid played by Sydney Sweeney, on edge, it was clear to me that she is what makes the movie work so perfectly.
Amanda Seyfried starts the movie out as a seemingly normal woman. She came across as sweet and well put together. However, when Millie was hired as her housemaid, Seyfried turned crazy and short tempered.
The mood swings that Seyfried portrayed created a high adrenaline feeling throughout the entire theater, always keeping the audience on their toes.
The scenes in the movie where Seyfried seemed psycho were incredible. Specifically, the scene where Nina (Seyfried) is fighting with her husband, Andrew. Millie hears commotion and goes to see what’s going on and she opens the door to see Nina standing there holding a bloody shard of a mirror.
The facial expressions and physicality of Amanda Seyfried in scenes like these were bone-chilling.
Spoiler alert: When Nina gets kicked out of her house by her husband, now replaced by Millie, it is revealed that she was being held captive by her husband, Andrew, for so many years, which made her crazy. And, the movie ultimately ends with an intense fight between Andrew and the two girls, Millie and Nina.
The character development that Seyfried displayed throughout the film was astounding, making her stand out from the rest of the cast. On the other hand, Sydney Sweeney’s performance stayed the same throughout the entire film, making her performance seem vanilla. And Brandon Skelnar’s character just seemed boring until the last 30 minutes of the movie.
The Housemaid is not a movie to miss. The movie’s twists and turns and bone-chilling plot, and, more importantly, Amanda Seyfried’s acting, makes the movie so great and emotionally striking.
