Movie Review - Woman in the Window

Director: Joe Wright
Genre: Crime/ Drama/ Thriller
Runtime: 100 minutes
Year: 2021
Starring: Amy Adams, Gary Oldman, Julianna Moore, Wyatt Russel, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Anthony Mackie, Brian Tyree Henry, Tracy Letts

Description: An agoraphobic woman (Amy Adams) living alone in New York begins spying on her new neighbors, only to witness a disturbing act of violence.

Review: Anna no longer takes a step outside her apartment. She suffers from severe agoraphobia and takes heavy medication to get through thee day, supplemented by a good sip of wine. She kills time by spying on her neighbors, and at the beginning of the film, the Russel family across the street is just moving in. Anna meets their son Ethan, a sensitive boy with a nervous streak, and moments later his mother as well. But then nefarious things happen. Our heroine sees a murder taking place on the other side. Main suspect: Mr. Russell.  
The plot of the film is very similar to “Rear Window” and director Joe Wright agrees, he even adds another adds another shot from the classic, on the of the many film cassics that Anna turns on the TV while peering into the neighborhood. And Wright has also borrowed some voyeuristic shots from the old master Hitchcock. He mixes this with a touch of films like “Shutter Island” and “The Wolf Hour” (a fairly unknown film with Naomi Watts, but also has a lot of similarities with this film).  
In the lead role we see Amy Adams. Her character comes off as a bit of a caricature at some points. In a better films that wouldn’t have been the case. Because Adams is still one of the strongest actresses of her generation. Julianne Moore technically has only one scene. Gary Oldman, as Mr. Russell, is a bit too much. And Jennifer Jason Leigh doesn’t really have anything to do. I like basically every single actor cast for this film, just not in this movie.
If there is anything positive to be said, it is that Joe Wright shows some promise here as a thriller maker. Overall, “The Woman in the Window” is just a copy of some other good movies mixed together, but not very well-executed. I was so looking forward to this film, but sadly enough it’s not that great.

Rating: 2,5 / 5