‘Nightbitch’ Movie Review: A Reductive Exploration Of Motherhood And Individuality
Photo from Searchlight Pictures
From Jeff Nelson
Motherhood is a thankless job that requires substantial sacrifice. But society doesn’t accept women who approach parenthood with anything other than a smile. This is only one piece of Marielle Heller’s well-intentioned Nightbitch, based on Rachel Yoder’s 2021 novel. Individual pieces to the story are intriguing and palpable, but they don’t flow together into a noteworthy whole.
A stay-at-home mother (Amy Adams) pauses her career to care for her son (Arleigh and Emmett Snowden), while her husband (Scoot McNairy) continues to pursue his. She’s sent into a panic when she starts transforming into a dog.
Family roles define these characters, credited only as Mother, Husband, and Son. In addition to making them relatable blank slates to project onto, this creative decision simultaneously signifies a loss of self. Mother keeps a smile on her face, careful not to appear ungrateful or resentful. Her mind offers glimpses into a personal truth via fantastical daydreams that express how she would respond without societal expectations. This is where most of Nightbitch’s comedy lives, morphing feminine rage and disappointment into dark humor, some of which is legitimately funny.
Body horror is an intrinsic hook to the story, yet it’s dramatically underutilized. The slow mutation into a dog has a symbolic meaning that ties into the title. Mother notices strange changes to her body, including sharp teeth and atypical hair growth. Her experiences as a dog come alive at night in dreamlike sequences that begin to alter her daytime behavior around peers and her child. Heller peeks into this peculiar part of the narrative, but it never gets as weird as it should. Nothing goes beyond the territory of slightly odd and every body horror scene feels like it could be pushed further.
Mother stepped away from her avant-garde art to focus on her family. Nightbitch further shies away from its doggie hook, shifting gears into a predictable family drama. The supernatural elements take a back seat to her feelings of isolation and confinement in a traditional motherhood role she never thought she was signing up for. A rare night out with colleagues highlights the piece of her life that she left behind to appease society’s ideals of motherhood. Adams is a terrific performer who tries to pull dramatic weight out of a character that isn’t given the full bandwidth she deserves. McNairy is a worthy co-star as Husband, sharing wonderful dramatic and comedic chemistry with Adams.
Nightbitch plays its outlandish premise far too safe, seemingly too afraid to fully embrace itself. Feminine rage simmers under the surface of this body horror dark comedy, but it never really comes to a head. Instead, it opts for low-hanging fruit. The humor and the horror feel as if they’re holding back, leaving only select dramatic moments carried by Adams and McNairy to keep the boat afloat. There is an appreciated honesty buried underneath an otherwise reductive social commentary piece on motherhood and individualism. It’s not bad but it is underwhelming.
Rating: 2.5/5
Nightbitch hits theaters on December 6th, 2024.
