Paul Feig is at his best when women are allowed to be funny, difficult and wrong. We rate his care for performers more highly than his pacing, particularly when he moves from comedy into suspense.
Fi1m perspective
In The Housemaid (2025), Amanda Seyfried’s Nina Winchester is charming at the interview and a different proposition by breakfast. Feig seems far more interested in her changes of mood than in the quiet endurance of Sydney Sweeney’s Millie, the woman she has hired. That preference helps explain both his appeal and his limitations: he is good with people who make a scene, less reliable when they must keep us waiting. We would sooner watch him let an actor be unreasonable than watch him carefully prepare a surprise.
That interest in people struggling to manage themselves has a gentler form in Freaks and Geeks (1999), which he created with Judd Apatow. Linda Cardellini makes teenage uncertainty painfully recognisable, and the young cast earns the time the series gives them. The pace can drag, but the warmth never requires school life to be comfortable. It is the work we would start with: funny, attentive and willing to let embarrassment last longer than anyone involved would wish.
The feature breakthrough came with Bridesmaids (2011). Melissa McCarthy became a recurring collaborator, appearing in that film, The Heat (2013) and Spy (2015). She is an apt collaborator for a director interested in female characters whose weaknesses are allowed to be as noticeable as their abilities. A Simple Favor (2018) moved him into thriller-comedy, a direction pursued further in The Housemaid, though the balance there tips towards suspense.
We were bored by the long, restrained first half of The Housemaid, then cheered considerably when the pace quickened and the performances became less polite. Feig adapts Freida McFadden’s novel largely straight, and at 131 minutes the film takes too long to reach the excess he handles well. Seyfried makes staying with it worthwhile, though the livelier material does not repair the earlier drift. His willingness to let a woman be objectionable remains a strength; knowing when to stop holding her back would help. Choose The Housemaid for Seyfried, provided the evening can spare an hour before the fun starts.
Biography
Paul Feig is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. He was born on 17 September 1962 in Royal Oak, Michigan.
Feig created the comedy series Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000). He is known for directing the films Bridesmaids (2011), The Heat (2013), Spy (2015), Ghostbusters (2016), A Simple Favor (2018) and Last Christmas (2019), and has frequently collaborated with actress Melissa McCarthy. He has also directed episodes of Arrested Development, The Office, Parks and Recreation and other series, and received Emmy Award nominations for his work on Freaks and Geeks and The Office. Feig directed and produced The Housemaid (2025).
