The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window is Netflix’s newest black comedy, psychological thriller created by Rachel Ramras, Hugh Davidson, and Larry Dorf. The executive producers are Kristen Bell, Will Ferrell, Jessica Elbaum, and Brittney Segal and, Gloria Sanchez Productions is involved with producing the series. The cast features Kristen Bell, Tom Riley, Mary Holland, Shelley Hennig, Christina Anthony, Samsara Yett, Cameron Britton, Benjamin Levy Aguilar and Michael Ealy. The series is eight episodes long with each episode having a runtime of a little less than 30 minutes.
– Netflix’s The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window Review Does Not Contain Spoilers –
The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window gives a running comical commentary on the genre of psychological thriller and murder mystery as it satirizes the cliches of the genre popularized by films like The Girl on the Train (2016), The Woman in the Window (2021). Banking on the mantlepiece of an unreliable female protagonist who does not step out of her house due to some “phobia” and, is roped into an investigative story when she unwittingly witnesses a murder, this Kristen Bell starrer tries to do it all.
In this story, our protagonist is Anna, a lonely woman who has lost her family and, now casually ignores her drinking problem as she sits by the window of her house and watches her neighbourhood. Anna’s life seems to shake awake when a handsome neighbour, single father- Neil along with his daughter, Emma moves into the house across the street from her window. Anna takes an instant liking for the young dad but, discovers him to be dating.
This brings us to that one fateful night, when Anna sits by her window to drink her way into the night when she witnesses Neil’s girlfriend, Lisa getting murdered. Panicked, Anna calls the police but, everything points out that Lisa isn’t murdered and just ‘away’ blaming the entire incident as a result of Anna’s heavy drinking. But, Anna is determined that someone killed Lisa. Or, is she? Could she have hallucinated the entire thing? Or, is there a murderer walking free? Well, it is for the audience to walk through this quick whodunit satire to find out!
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The series tries to be what the Scream franchise is to the slasher horror genre and, to a certain point, it succeeds with elements such as the changing epitaphs on Elizabeth’s gravestone that matches Anna’s mood or, narrative. But, the parody itself comes off as confusing and too immersed in itself.
There are times when the narrative pulls you so deep into the plot that when a funny joke lands on the screen, it seems like a bad script but, on a double-take, it isn’t. The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window has the potential to be a great parody, but the elements of comedy and mystery are so unevenly distributed that either you are going to find it silly all along or, get invested in a plot with an ending that you already know by heart.
Kristen Bell, of course, is a one-woman army throughout the show and, she convinces you of everything her character is going through. She can be the unreliable narrator or, well, Veronica Mars, whatever the story demands of her. Yet, Kristen’s magic cannot save the scattered storytelling.
The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window: Final Verdict
The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window is average at the best and, deadpan at the worst. It is offbeat not during the right moments and, does no justice to either the genre- thriller or comedy. The cinematography is engaging but, it could be the lack of background score during certain moments in the show due to which some lines did not deliver the kind of impact they were expected to. Nevertheless, it is a fun watch to pass your time over the weekend.
You can watch The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window now streaming on Netflix.
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