Movie Review
Amy Adams movie Nightbitch bites into the struggles of motherhood
Amy Adams in Nightbitch.
There have been many movies about the struggles of being a mother, from ‘80s films like Mommie Dearest and Baby Boom to more recent films like Bad Moms and Tully. The takes those films offer vary wildly, but it’s that last film to which the new Nightbitch can be most easily compared, as each has a mother who manifests an alternate reality in response to their personal issues.
The unnamed mother (Amy Adams) in this film is a former artist who’s now a stay-at-home mom to a toddler. Her days are filled with things like Mommy and Me gatherings at the library or fruitlessly trying to get her son down for a nap. Her husband (Scoot McNairy) travels for work; he’s nice and somewhat helpful when he’s home, but also oblivious to her issues in the way men often can be, especially in movies.
All of the stress of being a single mom for much of the time catches up with her, and she starts believing that things like extra hair growth and sharper teeth are evidence that she is turning into a dog. When she wakes up one morning to a pile of dead animals on her doorstep, her suspicions are confirmed, and she leans into the idea, going so far as to have her son pretend he’s a dog as well by eating out of a dog bowl and sleeping in a dog bed.
Adapted from the book by Rachel Yoder by writer/director Marianne Heller, the film derives a lot of its humor and pathos from the things the mother thinks she can’t say or do. The pressure of living up to the ideals of other moms or her husband’s expectations often has her holding back her true thoughts, although the audience is occasionally privy to them through short fantasy sequences.
The dog part of the film is clearly not supposed to be taken literally, but it’s also leaned into so much that one could reasonably think it was actually happening. Whether the mother is experiencing a mental health episode or is merely using the dog persona as a defense mechanism against stress is up for debate. Regardless, it allows Heller to indulge in a number of outrageous scenarios, some of which work better than others.
What she definitely wants to get across is how underappreciated mothers are in society, and how that can lead to internal thoughts that nothing they do will ever be good enough. The mother in this film is far from perfect, but she’s also doing her best to give her son an engaging and entertaining life, often to her own detriment. If anything, her dissociation that she’s a dog is a chance for her to finally put herself first.
Adams is a six-time Oscar nominee, although she’s not gotten a lot of love for her recent roles. While this part is ridiculous in some ways, Adams also makes the character wholly believable both mentally and physically. McNairy makes you want to punch him at times, which means he’s doing his job well. Zoë Chao, Mary Holland, and Archana Rajan play fellow moms who each get a few good moments.
The prime audience for Nightbitch is mothers, especially those who feel like they haven’t gotten their proper recognition from their husbands or the world at large. The lengths the film goes to prove its point make it compelling, as does the star performance by Adams.
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Nightbitch opens in theaters on December 6.
