Movie Review: Nightbitch

For those on the fence about whether to give up their careers to stay home and raise a child, this is not the movie for you.

The new movie "Nightbitch" stars Amy Adams in her first role in about 2 years. It is a mystery when a respected actor who has received six Oscar nominations and has been a major player in Hollywood for over 25 years, would choose this screenplay to return to acting. Adams wears no makeup in this film, has gained about 30 pounds, and plays an extremely depressed, exhausted, and suicidal married woman during the entire time she is living in this small house with her son, and has a husband who is rarely home. Adams's character name in this movie is of all things, "Mother", with her husband, played by actor Scoot McNairy, "Husband" - one of those "trying to be different, never seen this before" ideas that are seen far too often in movies in the last few years.

Nightbitch is based on the book written by Rachel Yoder, and being true to the book while creating another off-the-wall movie idea, Mother slowly starts to transition into a dog. She notices hair on her body that was not there before, her teeth become more pointed and sharper, and while in the shower, we see that she has developed 6 dog nipples - now that is something we have never seen before on screen - and never wanted to see on screen. Mother starts to walk on all fours like a dog and hangs out with other dogs in the neighborhood. Mother also has several incidents where she is eating food like a dog with her head in a bowl or a plate, even in front of several people at a local food store cafeteria, where she gets face to face with a plate of meat. For long-time fans of Amy Adams, "What the hell is she thinking, taking this role?"

This movie has too many fake scenes, where the actor fantasizes about something they would like to say or do, followed by what they say in real time. Too much of this can be distracting and somewhat annoying, with this practice getting old very quickly in any film. In one scene Mother is asked how she felt giving birth and goes into an insane tirade about her life being ruined, her dreams destroyed, her fears and desperation. Then says, “My brain just doesn’t operate the way it did before I had the baby,” she says. “I’m dumb, now.” In the real-time scene, Mother says, "I love being a mom". Enough of this already.

The idea behind the Mother to dog transition has to do with the book stating that while giving birth and raising a child, a woman can become more like an animal than a human being, which is the entire reason for the dog transitioning throughout this mostly ridiculous and depressing film.

The Rotten Tomatoes ratings for Nightbitch are a correct and understandably low 60%, with my rating at 50% only because of some of the good acting in this hard-to-believe was ever produced insane movie.