Ferocious Amy Adams brings out the freak in Marielle Heller's 'Nightbitch'

You needed a certain kind of actress to pull this complex concept off.

Being a stay-at-home parent is a proud yet thankless position for an adult. There is no pay, part of the job requires dealing with someone a quarter of your age with five times the amount of energy, and there’s no opportunity to rise in the company. You do it daily on a monotonous schedule that only changes if things go bad. The reward is raising someone who becomes a responsible adult, and eventually finding your way back to you.

For Amy Adams’ mother, the first part is going well but the second part isn’t coming to fruition. An artist who gave up her ambition to stay home with her son while her husband went off into the world to work, she is reaching the point where reactivation is required. A hobby, purpose, or something cohesive needs to strike her life head-on before a part of herself is lost forever. What does happen to her nightly routine isn’t what a typical movie fan would expect, but that’s what makes Marielle Heller’s latest film come into its own.

Heller is a filmmaker who commonly dips her hands in awards fare cinema with films such as A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and Can You Ever Forgive Me? With Nightbitch, which she adapted from a best-selling novel, she gets to scratch the surface of surreal parental freakiness. In other words, it’s an unconventional reveal halfway through that attaches new meaning to what you’ve been watching, and requires a fruitful leap of cinema faith. Adams’ Mother, the only name she ever formally receives in the movie, sees herself as one of a pack, not just someone hanging around in her life.

While a simple Google search would enliven the teases I have provided, you should jump in with both feet ready for impact with your eyes wide open. If I told you a middle-aged mom dealt with a mid-life crisis by turning into a dog at night and running with a pack of dogs, you may just roll your eyes and carry on. Whether you avoid the trailer or any other spoiler or go in with some idea, see what Heller has in store for audiences.

It’s different and should attract a healthy female audience if the film finds its way to proper marketing. If you’re an Adams fan in any way, or like Scoot McNairy giving the beleaguered husband role some depth, Nightbitch has something for you to savor.

There are strokes from Jason Reitman’s Tully with Charlize Theron but with a different supernatural element attached to the third act that adds relevance to the proceedings. Instead of being confused by what your mind is showing you, imagine the subconscious taking a bigger leap and bringing another shade of proud gray to the “badass momma” genre. There’s real drama, genuine comedy, and an ending that provides some hope instead of mere depression.

It’s not easy to tread the waters of a genre like this that has been ridden over and flipped around to find different meanings and identities, but that’s where Adams comes into play. By altering her appearance just enough to blend in with the look and feel of a stay-at-home mother, she gets to strip down any extra showy facade that would take the movie in a weird direction. There’s no Hillbilly Elegy makeup blitz or accent.

In one of her most impressive performances, arguably her best since Arrival, Adams reinvents herself yet again. That’s not small talk for someone who owns six Oscar nominations. Heller’s wacky story needed an actress does wackiness, and Adams fulfills the task of every act. It’s not like there’s a big third act climax that turns up the silly; Nightbitch is mainly about a husband and wife dealing with a reawakening in the family, and the rigors of marriage and parenthood merging with a need for purpose.

At the beginning, the Mother is a ghost passing through her life. In the end, she’s a completely different animal. Heller and Adams make the journey from one point to the next worth the wildness. Buy a ticket to Nightbitch, and let your freak flag fly!