Critics close curtains on The Woman in the Window

The Woman in the Window, Netflix's new psychological thriller starring Amy Adams, has failed to thrill critics.

The movie, directed by Joe Wright, is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by AJ Finn.

It sees Adams play Dr Anna Fox, a psychologist with agoraphobia who struggles to convince her neighbours and police that she witnessed a murder.

Reviewers have called the film adaptation "thinly sketched" and "a muddle", but also "effectively moody".

The feature, which co-stars Gary Oldman, Julianne Moore and Anthony Mackie, was originally made by 20th Century Fox and set for release in October 2019, but was sent back for re-writes and a re-edit following audience reaction at test screenings.

After Fox was bought by Disney, the film was shunted around the schedules, before being delayed due to the pandemic, and eventually sold to Netflix.

'Screechy histrionics'

Now that it's finally arrived, The Guardian couldn't wait to switch it off - awarding the film a meagre two stars.

Benjamin Lee wrote that Adams "gives a flat performance as an agoraphobe unravelling a dull mystery" in Wright's "cursed mis-step" of a movie.

Her character is "thinly sketched" and "flatly acted by Adams", Lee added, calling it "another off-key performance from an actor still weathering the horror of last year's heinous Hillbilly Elegy".

"She leans into screechy histrionics, as does a wincingly hammy Oldman (a scene of the pair trying to loudly overact over each other is one of the film's many low points), and what stings is that arguably her greatest work to date was in Sharp Objects, playing another tortured addict in another adaptation of a hit thriller, a turn so accomplished it's hard to believe we're now watching the same person."