Nightbitch is on my shortlist for most disappointing movie of the year. Between the star (Amy Adams), writer-director (Marielle Heller), and prickly source material (Rachel Yoder’s novel of the same name), Nightbitch has the makings of a provocative satire. But it fails to make any points stronger than “motherhood is hard as hell and can drive you insane.” Yes, parenting is hard. It’s isolating, humbling, and will drive you out of your mind. Coming from a filmmaker as talented as Heller, I was hoping the commentary would dive deeper. Alas, Nightbitch lacks the bite and insight to truly make a mark.
Adams stars as Mother (yeah…), a former-possibly-still-but-probably-not artist who spends her days at home with Son (Arleigh and Emmett Snowden), while Husband (Scoot McNairy) is in and out of the house on constant work trips. When Husband is home he isn’t providing Mother much relief, often exacerbating her frustrations. The first hint that maybe Nightbitch is going to leave viewers wanting happens quickly. The movie uses multiple fake outs with Mother saying or doing the harsh things running through her mind. It feels like the movie is declawing itself before it can even get going.
The movie gets on a litany of situations that are deeply relatable, building a report with viewers. Library story time, playdates with other parents who are more put together and make parenting look easy, trips to the grocery store, bedtime routines. The script does well to balance the joy that comes from these moments when it just you and your kid with the impotency and self-doubt that can spring up when other parents are around. Parenting isn’t a competition, but you definitely don’t want to be the clear “worst” parent in any given social setting. The film’s most incisive moments tend to happen when Mother’s insecurity is on full display, most often in scenes featuring the other mothers in her orbit.
Nightbitch saves most of its venom for Husband, who comes across as the stereotypical aloof parent. He’s mostly useless, including a lowlight of interrupting Mother’s first shower in a week to ask how she could forget to pick up milk. I imagine that moment, and a few others like it, will feel cathartic for the moms in the audience. I wish the movie dug deeper than this to land some real laceration with its observations. As it stands, its venting and commiserating rarely goes beyond what you’d find in a group chat.
This is all to say nothing of the film’s main conceit, with Mother’s transformation into a dog for some nocturnal adventures. LIke the rest of the film, the idea is not push this idea far enough. It’s always frustrating when a film’s hook is also its weakest element. It made me think back to Darren Aronofsky’s mother!, which didn’t blink at all when it came to maximizing its metaphor. Nightbitch plays it safe too often. It’s disappointing when a satire’s title is the most provocative thing about it.
Nightbitch is available to stream on Hulu on December 27
