Amy Adams delivers one of her best efforts on screen while showing the other side of motherhood in Marielle Heller’s new film, Nightbitch.

Whenever I hear that Amy Adams is starring in a new film, my initial thought is whether it will be the film that finally wins her the Oscar. Try as she may, she’s always a bridesmaid, never the bride. Her six current Oscar nominations tie her with both Deborah Kerr and Thelma Ritter as the actresses with the second most nominations without a win. The actress’s Hillbilly Elegy co-star has eight nominations without a win. In case you’ve been living in a cave, it’ll be a surprise if anyone not named Cynthia Erivo wins the Oscar for Best Actress. Even at that, there’s tough competition for the other four nomination slots. Sorry, Amy–not this year.

The gist of the film is that a Mother (Amy Adams) puts a pause to her career so that she can be a stay-at-home mom. It’s not long before this new domesticity takes a bizarre turn in the adaptation of Rachel Yoder’s 2021 novel. The main characters are all nameless, including the Husband (Scoot McNairy) and Son (Arleigh Snowden and Emmett Snowden). Interestingly, all the other characters in the film have names. Anyway, we do not know the name of their hometown but they live in the suburbs. Aside from that, people will take away what they want from the film. Someone might resonate with something they see in the film. Perhaps it’s the suburban mother going in every which direction. Maybe it’s the husband who travels each week for work. Or maybe it’s the primal urges. To each their own, of course.

Nightbitch has been described as a black comedy. IMDb categorizes it as a horror-comedy. There are definitely elements that one might categorize as being body horror. It’s during these moments on screen that yes, I had to look away. It can be a bit much during those scenes where it appears that Adams’s unnamed mother is transforming into a dog. If any kind of body transformations might be a bit too much for comfort, this probably will not be the film for you.

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Marielle Heller
CAST: Amy Adams, Scoot McNairy, Arleigh Snowden and Emmett Snowden, Zoë Chao, Mary Holland, Archana Rajan, and Jessica Harper

Searchlight Pictures releases Nightbitch in theaters on December 6, 2024. Grade: 3.5/5

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