Plot: The Good House follows Hildy Good, a wry New England realtor and descendant of the Salem witches, who loves her wine and her secrets. Her compartmentalized life begins to unravel as she rekindles a romance with her old high-school flame and becomes dangerously entwined in one person’s reckless behavior. Igniting long-buried emotions and family secrets, Hildy is propelled toward a reckoning with the one person she’s been avoiding for decades: herself.
Review: Believe it or not, it has been over a decade since Sigourney Weaver was the lead in a feature film. While she has acted steadily in major supporting roles or as part of an ensemble, Weaver’s last top-billed performance was in 2007’s The Girl in the Park. At 72, Weaver has had key roles in James Cameron’s Avatar franchise and was even a Marvel villain in Netflix’s Defenders series, but The Good House is the biggest showcase for the legendary actress in quite some time. Luckily, The Good House is a charming and sweet drama that brings out one of Sigourney Weaver’s best performances in years and is her second awards-worthy performance of 2022.
Based on the novel by Ann Leary, The Good House feels as inviting as a good book. With an ensemble cast of recognizable actors and relative unknowns, The Good House manages to build a realistic community of characters that feel as ingrained in the fictional New England town of Wendover as the stereotypical Boston accents peppered through the film. Part comedy and part drama, The Good House defies genre by just being a good story about a character that is instantly identifiable to anyone who has family members who drink a little too much. The trailers may have you believe that this is a romance aimed at older audiences, but it is rather a sweet and relatable story that works for viewers of all ages and walks of life.
Sigourney Weaver plays Hildy Good, a realtor and functioning alcoholic who is struggling with debt in the wake of a stint in rehab. Hildy is a great character for Weaver that plays on the actress’s ability to command a scene while still being vulnerable and likable. Hildy also breaks the fourth wall regularly throughout the movie which helps the audience relate to her even as we see events unfold that make her a less than reliable narrator. Hildy becomes entwined with Rebecca McAllister (Morena Baccarin), to whom she recently sold a home. Hildy also contends with her gay ex-husband (David Rasche) and their two adult children (Rebecca Henderson and Molly Brown). There is also the local psychiatrist, Peter Newbold (Rob Delaney), whom Hildy confides in from time to time as well as her former colleague turned nemesis Wendy Heatheron (Katheryn Erbe). All of these characters weave in and out of Hildy’s daily life and factor into her secret drinking which is not exactly a secret.
For the first half of the film, Weaver guides us through Hildy’s daily life and struggles, building the film’s community in a way that feels cozy and welcoming. Kevin Kline appears in several scenes in the early going as Frank Getchell, Hildy’s former crush and friend. It is not until the hour mark of the 102-minute movie that things between Hildy and Frank begin to develop, something the trailer makes seem to be the central plot of the film. From there, the chemistry between Weaver and Kline, which they used to great effect in The Ice Storm as well as Dave, carries the story from a light comedy-drama to a deeper level. Both Weaver and Kline are so good as performers that their interactions with each other are a pleasure to watch and make you root for this couple to work out their problems to solve themselves. Being a movie about addiction, The Good House doesn’t make it easy on Hildy but still embraces the challenges real people face in situations like this.
Written by directors Maya Forbes (Infinitely Polar Bear) and Wally Wolodarsky (The Simpsons) alongside Thomas Bezucha (Let Him Go, Marvel’s Secret Invasion), The Good House is not a story of addiction as much as it is a look at how an addict can justify their actions and behaviors, or at the very least exist in denial of them. While I have not read the book, the film seems to take a lighter angle on some of the narrative elements from the source material which makes for a more engaging film experience but one that is nonetheless worth emotionally investing in. At times, the movie does feel like it ventures into the safety of so many films about characters over the age of fifty-five, but Forbes and Wolodarsky never take this into the cliche rom-com territory of so many Diane Keaton and Meryl Streep films.
The Good House works thanks to the easy-going chemistry of Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline, who should make as many movies together as they possibly can. Weaver herself proves time and again that she is just as bankable of a leading lady in her seventies as she has ever been. Hollywood doesn’t spend enough time with actors of this caliber anymore and The Good House is the type of movie that is often relegated to streaming or worse. The Good House is a movie that many will skip over but should spend the time with as it is just as engaging a portrait of New England life as Manchester by the Sea and every bit a showcase for the one and only Sigourney Weaver.