Nightbitch (TIFF) Review: Amy Adams Thinks She’s A Dog In This Cute Comedy

Last Updated on September 17, 2024

PLOT: A woman (Amy Adams) who gave up her career as a stay-at-home mom begins to think she’s turning into a dog.

REVIEW: I don’t know why, but when I first heard the premise for Nightbitch, I assumed it was going to be a horror movie. I’m definitely not the only one, as if you Google the film, it’s still classified as horror, and the posters make it look like dark, edgy fare. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Nightbitch, despite its provocative title, is actually a sweet tribute to motherhood and the pressures therein, similar to Jason Reitman’s Tully. 

It’s a good little movie, with Amy Adams getting her best role in a couple of years as the increasingly harried and unnamed protagonist (she’s credited only as mother). Once a noted bohemian artist, her days mostly consist of caring for her toddler son, with her sense of isolation growing more potent by the day. Her husband (Scott McNairy) is a nice enough guy, but he takes her for granted and is somewhat oblivious to how, as her life has becomes solely defined by her role as a wife and mother, she’s lost her identity.

While it sounds serious, director Marielle Heller approaches Nightbitch with a light touch. She’s non-judgemental and presents Mother as a bit of her own worst enemy in some ways in that she only ever vocalizes her frustrations in fantasy sequences. But, when she thinks she’s becoming a dog, with fur sprouting out of her back and her teeth suddenly becoming sharper, she becomes somewhat liberated and starts to regain her sense of self.

Certainly, this movie will cut close to the bone for any parent with a young child. It’s probably a good one to watch together as a couple, as Heller’s script tries to be fair to everyone, including the husband who, in a simpler film (such as Tully), would be presented as oafish. Here, he vocalizes his own frustrations and isn’t shown to be constantly off base, with McNairy always sympathetic.

Yet, this is a showcase for Amy Adams more than anything, and certainly, you’ve never seen her like this before. In a performance utterly without vanity, we get to watch her go to the dogs, literally, as she goes down on all fours playing with the pups she meets at the park and shoves her face into a bowl of Mac-and-cheese (with meatloaf on top) at the grocery store. Heck, we even get to see Amy Adams sing a Weird Al Yankovic song (“Dare to be Stupid”) in perhaps my favorite needle drop of the year. 

Nightbitch is Heller’s fourth film, and like all of her other movies, it’s slickly made, with excellent cinematography by Brandon Trost. She’s always had a good sense of pacing, with her accomplishing quite a bit in a movie that runs just a hair over ninety minutes. It also has some nice, empathetic moments, with characters that initially seem vacuous showing surprising depth, and a nice supporting role for Phantom of the Paradise & Suspiria legend Jessica Harper, who, between this and last year’s Memory, seems to be making a very welcome comeback.

While horror fans will be disappointed to learn this isn’t the quasi-Amy Adams werewolf movie we all wanted, Nightbitch is still a nice little flick that would make for a great night out at the theatre for new parents. Just expect a heavy conversation on the drive home. 

Nightbitch

GOOD

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