The Housemaid

Summary

Pop Culture Happy Hour: “The Housemaid”

Episode Date: December 22, 2025
Panelists: Aisha Harris (host), Jordan Crucciola, Roxanna Hadadi

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Episode Overview

This episode of Pop Culture Happy Hour dives into The Housemaid, the new twisty psychological thriller directed by Paul Feig, starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried. The panel thoroughly explores the movie's high-camp sensibility, its performances (especially Sweeney and Seyfried), the dynamics both on- and off-screen, and where this film fits within the resurgence of the women’s domestic thriller genre.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. First Impressions and Genre Tone

[04:20] – [05:42]

• Roxanna admits initial skepticism:

  "Started with me being like, what is this even? It is not working for me. And then there is a point like a quarter of the way through where I was like, actually this is genius filmmaking and maybe we should make new Oscars for what is happening in the Housemaid."

• She appreciates the film's embrace of “high camp, high trash” energy reminiscent of ‘90s women-led domestic thrillers.
• Jordan puts the movie in context with Paul Feig’s previous works:

  "This is Paul Feig operating in my favorite mode of his… paperback airport novel Paul Feig with, like ladies at the center doing harm to each other in inventive and at times homoerotic ways." [05:47]

• All agree that the movie’s deliberate silliness and tonal playfulness make it a crowd-pleaser, best enjoyed with an audience.

2. Crowd Experience and Nostalgia

[07:31] – [08:31]

• Aisha emphasizes the communal value:

  “This is a movie that absolutely benefits from being seen with a bunch of people… sometimes you just want to see a movie where other people are gonna make the same noises that you are when something weird happens.” [07:31]

• Roxanna reminisces about ‘90s thrillers, calling this “embrace tradition. Return to your roots” filmmaking.

3. Sydney Sweeney’s Performance and Public Image

[09:04] – [13:17]

• Discussion of Sweeney’s career arc, her controversial American Eagle campaign, and how her public persona interacts with the roles she takes:

  “Some people are very focused on her personal life and her supposed political alignments. But then the movies she's in tend to be these types of movies that are very much like, if not flat out feminist, they are about women overcoming the patriarchy.” – Aisha Harris [09:33]

• Jordan lauds Sweeney’s screen presence:

  “She is so good in this. She is so good in Immaculate. She is so good as Cassie in Euphoria… I would love to see her commit to this lane.” [11:07]

• Roxanna critiques her range as an actor, but finds her perfectly cast here:

  “She has a limited range that in this film is perfect for what this film is asking her to do… For this film, which is asking Amanda Seyfried to do huge over the top, like, mood swing acting, having Sydney Sweeney be the blank quote unquote, normal character… is super effective.” [13:17]

4. Comparing Sweeney to Other Actresses

[14:32] – [16:46]

• Jordan introduces a nuanced take:

  “There's not a problem with being a specific talent. To compare her talent to that of like an Amanda Seyfried and be like, these two actors should be the same thing is absolutely not the case.” [14:32]

• The conversation expands to how actors navigate Hollywood’s typecasting, mentioning Blake Lively and Dakota Johnson as analogous cases.

5. Amanda Seyfried’s Performance & On-Screen Dynamic

[17:21] – [18:49]

• Aisha and Roxanna heap praise on Seyfried for bringing nuance and operatic intensity:

  “She can really dance that line. And there are so many twists and turns in this movie… I was still very, very just enraptured with the way this performance plays out.” – Aisha [17:24]

• Roxanna highlights a standout moment:

  “…Amanda Seyfried's character is in her SUV and she's doing a classic move that we all recognize where she goes from sobbing maniacally to laughing maniacally. And it takes, like, a certain kind of act to pull that off.” [20:45]

6. Trope Awareness and Genre Playfulness

[18:49] – [21:04]

• The film knowingly incorporates soapy genre tropes—the mysterious groundskeeper, gossipy neighbor moms, the unlikable child—while clearly winking at the audience.

  “What the movie does so well is it takes all these... very recognizable, like, tropey elements of this genre at this point and, like, winks at you the whole time.” – Roxanna [18:49]

7. Career Context for Amanda Seyfried

[21:04] – [22:46]

• Seyfried’s current moment as a performer is compared to Julianne Moore:

  “If there's one person whose filmography is balanced between like, like prestige dazzle you and absolute junk dazzle you, it is Julianne Moore.” – Jordan [21:37]

• The panel reflects on Seyfried’s journey from Mean Girls to prestige projects, and her ability to ground even the silliest material.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Maybe we should make new Oscars for what is happening in The Housemaid."
  – Roxanna Hadadi, [04:24]
• "This is genius filmmaking and maybe we should make new Oscars for what is happening in The Housemaid."
  – Roxanna Hadadi, [04:24]
• "Paperback airport novel Paul Feig with, like, ladies at the center doing harm to each other in inventive and at times homoerotic ways."
  – Jordan Crucciola, [05:47]
• "Give me a bunny boiler. Give me a bunny boiler."
  – Jordan Crucciola, referencing classic femme fatale tropes, [08:55]
• "She has a limited range that in this film is perfect for what this film is asking her to do."
  – Roxanna Hadadi, on Sydney Sweeney, [13:17]
• "I'm a cinema traditionalist, 100%."
  – Jordan Crucciola, [08:21]
• "If you bought big love stock, y', all, we are cashing in. It is cashing in."
  – Jordan Crucciola, speaking about Amanda Seyfried’s career trajectory, [23:00]
• "This sort of, like, B movie genre film paired with Testament of Anne Lee finally feels like the moment where you're like, oh, like Mean Girls. And Veronica Mars star Amanda Seyfried has the range, and I just think that's really fun."
  – Roxanna Hadadi, [21:06]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Introduction & Movie Setup: [03:22] – [04:20]
• First Impressions: [04:20] – [05:42]
• Crowd Experience & Genre Nostalgia: [07:31] – [08:31]
• Sydney Sweeney Discussion: [09:04] – [13:17]
• Comparing Sweeney/Typecasting: [14:32] – [16:46]
• Amanda Seyfried Highlight & Character Dynamics: [17:21] – [18:49], [20:45]
• Genre Tropes & Playfulness: [18:49] – [21:04]
• Amanda Seyfried’s Career Context: [21:04] – [22:46]
• Final Thoughts & Sign-off: [23:00] – [23:34]

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Conclusion

The panel finds The Housemaid a highly enjoyable, self-aware thriller that embraces its pulpy roots and delivers a fun, communal moviegoing experience. Both Sydney Sweeney’s and Amanda Seyfried’s performances are praised within the film’s context—Sweeney for her self-aware casting, Seyfried for her range and verve.

The episode serves as both a sharp, slightly irreverent breakdown of the movie and a broader conversation about Hollywood’s treatment of genre films, typecasting, and the joys of experiencing deliciously over-the-top thrillers on the big screen, with friends.

Transcript

[Sponsor Announcer]

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[Aisha Harris]

The twisty psychological thriller the House made was a huge bestseller, so it was only a matter of time before it was turned into a film. And it's quite the movie. Sydney Sweeney plays a newly hired live in housekeeper to Amanda Seyfried's wealthy housewife. But both women have dark secrets and their employer employee dynamic goes downhill real fast. It's directed by Paul Feig, who's made movies like Bridesmaids and A Simple Flavor. So you know it's gonna be a bizarre, very fun ride. I'm Aisha Harris and today we're talking about the Housemaid on Pop Culture Happy Hour from.

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[Roxanna Hadadi]

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[Aisha Harris]

Today is Jordan Cruciola. She's a writer and producer and the host of the podcast Feeling Seen on Maximum Fun. Hey, Jordan.

[Jordan Crucciola]

Hello. Thrilled to be here on the Paul Feig beat today.

[Aisha Harris]

Yes, welcome, welcome. Also with us is Vulture TV critic Roxanna Hadati. Hey, Roxanna.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

Hello. Thank you for having me.

[Aisha Harris]

Yes. I am so excited to talk about this movie. It's gonna be especially with you two. This is gonna be very fun. So in the house Maid City Sweeney plays Millie, a young woman with a checkered past and who's struggling to make ends meet. She lands what seems like a pretty clutch gig as a live in housekeeper for wealthy couple Nina and Andrew Winchester, played by Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar. Now, it doesn't take too long before the dream job becomes a nightmare though, because Nina is very unpredictable and prone to violent outbursts.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

I have to get up and do.

[Jordan Crucciola]

A speech in front of everybody and now I have nothing.

[Aisha Harris]

Oh, and to complic things even further, there's definitely some heat between Millie and Andrew. As Nina's behavior grows more and more erratic, though things spin out of control. Secrets are revealed and Millie has to fight for her life. Yes. This movie, I love it. It's in theaters now. Roxanna, I'm gonna start with you.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

Yeah.

[Aisha Harris]

Give me your first impressions of the Housemaid.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

Started with me being like, what is this even? It is not working for me. And then there is a point like a of the way through where I was like, actually this is genius filmmaking and maybe we should make new Oscars for what is happening in the Housemaid. But like, I'm very susceptible to this sort of thing.

[Sponsor Announcer 2]

Right.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

Like, I really liked the Hunting Wives. I liked Sirens. We sort of had this resurgence of sort of like high camp, high trash TV this year. The Girlfriend, all her fault. I'm gonna keep going. I feel very fond of this genre, I think, and I really enj enjoyed this. I feel like sort of like the women's domestic thriller got very self serious and somber for a while, which I understand because the genre is often dealing with like domestic violence and domestic abuse and a lot of the difficulties of having it all. Like, I understand all of that, but I do think that there is like a certain amount of very dark humor in this movie that I found to be very fun. And once it had sort of like won me over. It had like fully won me over.

[Aisha Harris]

I love to hear it. Jordan the Housemaid Thoughts.

[Jordan Crucciola]

As someone who put together an entire, like, capsule podcast dedicated to a Simple favor. This is Paul Feig operating in my favorite mode of his. Even as good as the Heat and Bridesmaid and Spy are, this is my favorite Paul Feig, like, paperback airport novel Paul Feig with, like ladies at the center doing harm to each other in inventive and at times homoerotic ways. Watching this movie in a theater was so much fun. Coming at the end of a year right when we're about to get the testament of Ann Lee.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

Yeah.

[Jordan Crucciola]

Amanda Seyfried could be in Oscar contention for both. Honestly, those eyes are telling two such incredibly different stories. You are seeing the dynamic nature of an Oscar caliber actor right before our eyes. And after the year that Sydney Sweeney has had to close it out with the perfect lane for Sydney Sweeney to exist in.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

Yeah.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah.

[Jordan Crucciola]

Feels like getting the kick in at the end of the run at the track meet and closing it down to end up on the podium somehow. Brandon Skelnar is what I think I had always thought Scott Eastwood might be.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

Yes. They have the same face. It's so unnerving.

[Jordan Crucciola]

Yeah. The promise of that kind of. I wasn't sure if what he was doing was working for me in the movie and then a pivotal point happens and I was like, it's all fallen into place for me. So chemistry, magic, madness. I'm all in five baggers.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

Cinema. Jordan said cinema.

[Jordan Crucciola]

Cinema. Yes.

[Aisha Harris]

Yes. This is a movie that absolutely benefits from being seen with a bunch of people. We always talk about the blockbusters. It's like, oh, you wanna see on a big screen because it's visually stunning. No, sometimes you just want to see a movie where other people are gonna make the same noises that you are when something weird happens.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

Yes.

[Aisha Harris]

Who are gonna laugh at the same stuff that you do.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

Yeah. The press screening I went to was like a mixed press and public screening. Heavily women. And I just a found this movie so much more effective and entertaining and even moving. And the crowd was having such a good time that it is the kind of thing where you're like, we used to have these in the 90s. Like, we used to have a lot of these in the 90s.

[Aisha Harris]

We did.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

And this is my embrace. Tradition. Return to your roots.

[Jordan Crucciola]

I'm a cinema traditionalist, 100%.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

Yes. If you just want to, like, text a lot of friends you haven't hung out with in a while, the housemaid is the way to do it.

[Jordan Crucciola]

Yes.

[Aisha Harris]

Oh, my goodness. Yes. This was exactly what I wanted and what I needed. I love these types of movies and I think you both are so right. That there's this idea that this kind of movie needs to be a little bit more serious and more grave as it is about what it really means. And I think sometimes we need that escapism and to go back to the era of your Fatal Attractions and those types of things. Like, I want that.

[Jordan Crucciola]

Give me a bunny boiler. Give me a bunny boiler.

[Aisha Harris]

Yes, yes. We don't get a bunny boiler. Do get china. Like, pieces of china.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

Yeah.

[Aisha Harris]

The family heirloom that is very crucial to plot points in this movie. But I do want to talk about the Sydney Sweeney of it all, because I had this sort of same thought going into it, Jordan, of, like, this being kind of perfect for her. And, I mean, let's just talk about the way this. Her career has gone this year. Yeah. You know, she appeared in a controversial ad campaign for American Eagle earlier this year with the tagline, sydney Sweeney has great jeans. Jeans, as in denim?

[Roxanna Hadadi]

Sure.

[Aisha Harris]

But it caused an uproar because the ads were using wordplay that evoked eugenics. Just bluntly speaking, it also surfaced this year that she's a registered Republican voter in Florida. And so you've got that. And then her boxing biopic movie Christie, which has been clearly her play. Like if Testament of Ann Lee is Amanda Seyfried's play for Oscar, like Christie is, is kind of Sydney Sweeney's. And that did poorly at the box office, some say, because she gave this sort of non answer about her jeans ad in an interview with gq. And then also her, like, her perceived political alignment. So this idea that we're, like, assigning something to her personal life has maybe affected her box office chances. That's what they're saying. So now she's, like, addressed the campaign directly. I was gonna forget about this. I don't know about you. I was kind of like, okay, whatever. I'd forgotten about it. But now she has this movie that she's trying to promote, and she did an intro with People magazine where she said, quote, I don't support the views. Some people chose to connect to the campaign. Many have assigned motives and labels to me that just aren't true. And she also added, I'm against hate and divisiveness. Okay. So after seeing the Housemate, which is something I found find interesting because people. Some people are very focused on her personal life and her supposed political alignments. But then the movies she's in tend to be these types of movies that are very much like, if not flat out feminist, they are about women sort of overcoming the patriarchy. I even think of, like, the nun movie that she did.

[Jordan Crucciola]

Immaculate.

[Aisha Harris]

Immaculate, yes.

[Jordan Crucciola]

If all the registered Republicans in Hollywood, of which there are many, y' all want to make independent movies about domestic abuse, surviving lesbians who are also boxers, like, then I would be happy for them to channel their tax cut money into that kind of forum. But Sydney Sweeney, I think in terms of a Hollywood element, of a screen presence, she is so good in this. She is so good in Immaculate. She is so good as Cassie in Euphoria. And she is really good in the movie the Voyeurs.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

Yeah, the Voyeurs is good.

[Aisha Harris]

Oh, I totally forgot about that movie.

[Jordan Crucciola]

Yeah, Sydney Sweeney is great. And also a dime store, a paperback airport movie, exploitation thriller. I would love to see her commit to this lane. I think she's absolutely got a go for it in her that is really suitable for. Yes. And the physical packaging that comprises, like, the totality of Sydney Sweeney fits really well in this space as well. And she knows that too, which is why she takes these roles and plays into the hilt the way that she does. In pure terms of screen presence, I think there was role selection that was a bit out of step for what's in her wheelhouse. So, you know, a movie like Eden, I don't know if that's something where she's like, the best fit, but something like this, give me drama, give me screams, give me thrills, give me. Give me what the Hunting Wives audience wants, because that is who I am and that is what I want.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah, I mean, Roxanna, what say you? Yeah, I mean, I do think there is something to be said that we're talking about this movie and this kind of movie, and we're not really talking about Christy. And I don't think Christy was the right movie for her. I never fully bought into her playing that role. But I can also understand being young and wanting to stretch. Attempt to stretch your chops.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

Yeah, I mean, like, her personal or political life or whatever is like a black hole upon which we project many things. My personal feeling about her as an actress is I think that she has a limited range that in this film is perfect for what this film is asking her to do.

[Aisha Harris]

Exactly.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

She is playing a young woman who is unhoused, does not have any job opportunities, has a quick temper. And I think all of that comes through really well in the characterization of, like, this young woman who seems pretty aimless, clearly has sort of a moral core, but honestly is, like, pretty reactive and pretty passive. This is not meant to be an insult. I'm so sorry. But she's very good at that sort of like dead eyed affect and that sort of like very deadpan line delivery. And for this film, which is asking Amanda Seyfried to do huge over the top, like, mood swing acting, having Sydney Sweeney be the blank quote unquote, normal character for a long time in this movie is super effective to get the contrast between the two of them, which, again, I do want to insist, like, in my eyes, is limited, but in this kind of lane, it is perfect. And I think it's the most self aware performance from her that I've seen.

[Jordan Crucciola]

Yeah, there's not a problem with being a specific talent. To compare her talent to that of like an Amanda Seyfried and be like, these two actors should be the same thing is absolutely not the case. And you look at what Paul Feig did in A Simple Favor, bringing us the best performance of Blake Lively's career and tapping into something that someone who, in the Simple Favor podcast that we had, Blake Lively said in her own words, being like, I'm not Meryl Streep. For me, it's the costumes and all the finishings and the touches that really help me bring out a specific character. She's aware of the lane that she occupies. In a similar case to like a Blake Lively, Sydney Sweeney is very aware that the physical presence that they have, like the way they present these stunning white women, I'm not crying for these rich, very well off white women who are doing fine. They are aware of the perception of them. And you have the choice to either go along completely with perception in a sort of complicit way. You have the choice to wink, wink, nudge, nudge, play within it, which is a really difficult line to walk, which I think is what Sidney accomplishes in something like this and something like Voyers especially. Or you have the choice to buck against it and be like, that's not me. I'm not that girl. Because you do want to defy the box that you are being put in. Because Hollywood still loves a box. If that is not your journey, if that's not your path to break out of that box that you're being put in and really find that kind of thriving success in a more dynamic sort of career, then you're gonna like, have some slings and arrows. As you learn the hard way that that's maybe not necessarily the most beneficial choice for your career decisions, your role choices. Listen, it would be cool to be super hot for a couple days, but I honestly wouldn't want because that's a sort of celebrity that, like, you don't get a pick when you turn it on and turn it off.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah.

[Jordan Crucciola]

I would probably get really frustrated with the way that people were coming at me with the presumptions and access to who I am. And I'd be like, well, I'm going to show you. And I would probably make some decisions that weren't probably in line with what I was best at in this world because I was going to try to prove to other people that I wasn't just as hot body shell. Because that probably sucks. That probably sucks. And so you're like, I'm going to be a lesbian. Boxes with a mullet. And like, I get that. I get that.

[Aisha Harris]

I mean, she's still young, Right? She's not even 30 yet.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

So younger than Timote. Right. Younger than Chalamet. I think we always forget that Chalamet is a little older, like, within this realm of New Hollywood. Yeah.

[Aisha Harris]

Yes. And younger than Zendaya, too. So it's. I agree with everything you said about this. And I would also throw someone like Dakota Johnson in here where I'm just like, you are very good at one specific thing. And when you're cast against that, I'm like, maybe not, but I'm not gonna fault them, per se, for, like, trying to do that, because. Why wouldn't you try to do that? I do wanna talk more about sort of Amanda Seyfried, because I do think that she does have the harder role here because this is a very big performance.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

Yeah.

[Aisha Harris]

And she's so good at it. Like, she can.

[Jordan Crucciola]

She's so good in this movie.

[Aisha Harris]

She can really dance that line. And there are so many twists and turns in this movie. And, you know, some of them. As someone who's watched many of these, even though I haven't read the novel that this is based off of, I kind of saw them coming. But nevertheless, I was still very, very just enraptured with the way this performance plays out and the way that Paul Feig really just kind of plays up how silly all of this is. This is the type of movie I feel like once you realize this is deliberately silly in many ways. Like, there's so many moments where there's jump scares, where all of a sudden Amanda Seyfried's character is just, like, standing there, like, behind the mirror, and it's like. Oh. And it's like, very. It's very.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

Yes. She's just looming. Ghostly energy.

[Jordan Crucciola]

Yeah, Looming. A looming Amanda Seyfried.

[Aisha Harris]

There's the creepy Groundskeeper Enzo.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

Yes.

[Aisha Harris]

Who's played by Michele Morone. Their dynamic is very great.

[Jordan Crucciola]

Famously of the Megan Fox fembot movie that came out last year, in which he played, like, you know, just the helpless dad that fembot Megan Fox had to come in and help domestically. He's been here before. He knows a housemaid situation.

[Aisha Harris]

Yes. He has a lane, too, and he's sticking to it. I love it. What do we think of sort of this dynamic between Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney and how that kind of plays with expectations? I think, without getting too much into spoilers, because this does get very twisty, but I found it very enjoyable and very satisfying.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

The thing that is very smart about this movie, and it might be this way in the novel, too, which I have not read, but what the movie does so well is it takes all these, like, very recognizable, like, tropey elements of this genre at this point and, like, winks at you the whole time. The groundskeeper that is just sort of, like, staring through windows and, like, maybe spying on these women. Like, that's very unclear. The gaggle of, like, awful neighborhood moms. Paul loves a gaggle of moms.

[Aisha Harris]

Take a little, talk a little.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

Yeah. And they're just, like, gossiping the whole time.

[Aisha Harris]

Oh, my God.

[Jordan Crucciola]

I'm so sorry.

[Aisha Harris]

I really thought she was pregnant.

[Sponsor Announcer]

You were all thinking it.

[Jordan Crucciola]

I mean, have you seen her skin?

[Sponsor Announcer]

And how about those roots? My God.

[Jordan Crucciola]

You think she would take better care of herself?

[Roxanna Hadadi]

For Andrew, the fact that the daughter that Sydney Sweeney's character is now sort of expected to babysit doesn't like her at all.

[Aisha Harris]

No shoes on the furniture. She's so great. I wrote in my notes. She makes great shady faces. She's played by Indiana Elle.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

Yeah, she makes wonderful shad faces. She makes Sydney Sweeney's character make her a bologna sandwich and then is like, I'm not hungry. Like, all of these things are. If you've even read, like, one of these books, you're completely aware of, like, oh, these are all the puzzle pieces, and eventually they will be rearranged into something really interesting. And I do think that, as we talked about, like, Sweeney being so passive and Amanda doing so much, it is this great, like, push, pull, conflict, contentious energy. So then when the movie flips, you then realize that their dynamic has to flip. And I think that's, like, where the genius of the contrasting performances is. I do want to say there's this moment where Amanda Seyfried's character is in her SUV and she's doing a Classic move that we all recognize where she goes from sobbing maniacally to laughing maniacally. And it takes, like, a certain kind of act to pull that off. But I remember watching that and being like, could this woman be joker? Like, could we, like, what kind of villainy could we put this woman in? And I thought that was really fun.

[Aisha Harris]

Let's not forget she played Elizabeth Holmes.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

Yeah. She should have won every award for that. So I also think that she is just sort of like. I mean, obviously she is a list, but I think she's the kind of actress who can do so much. And it's interesting that this. This sort of, like, B movie genre film paired with Testament of Anne Lee finally feels like the moment where you're like, oh, like Mean Girls. And Veronica Mars star Amanda Seyfried has the range, and I just think that's really fun.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah.

[Jordan Crucciola]

An actor. She reminds me the most of that, I think is very, very established as, like, sort of a list in the mind is Julianne Moore, who also, if there's one person whose filmography is balanced between like, like prestige dazzle you. And absolute junk dazzle you, it is Julianne Moore. Her curation is so broad in her career. They meet in the middle in the movie Chloe.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

Yeah.

[Jordan Crucciola]

In the bisexual sexploitation movie Chloe, there are, like, the two wolves that are within you. It's like watching a movie like Chloe and watching a movie like, you know, say, even Jennifer's Body, where Amanda Seyfried is the straight man character to the more vamped up Megan Fox. Amanda Seyfried has been on the opposite side. She's been the Sydney Sweeney in this dynamic. In another, like, Girl two hander sort of pulpy genre movie of this sort of sort. It makes me so happy to watch an actress getting older and having cooler opportunities that are higher profile, that showcase, like, the quiet choices she's been making to smaller audiences for a long time. That's an arc that just makes my heart soar.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah. Yeah. I feel like anytime I see Amanda Seyfried is going to be in a movie, I'm gonna be in good hands. Like, it doesn't really matter what kind of role she's playing. She's just always gonna be that good. I love this.

[Jordan Crucciola]

If you bought big love stock, y', all, we are cashing in. It is cashing in.

[Aisha Harris]

I think that is the perfect way to end this episode. Tell us what you think about this. The Housemaid. Find us on [e-mail] PCHH and on [e-mail] NPRpopculture we'll have a link to that in our episode description and go see it in the theater. Okay. And that brings us to the end of our show. Jordan Crucciola, Roxanna Hadati, thanks so much for being here. This was, as always, a delight.

[Jordan Crucciola]

What a thrill. A perfect thrill.

[Roxanna Hadadi]

Yes, thank you.

[Aisha Harris]

This episode was produced by Liz Metzger, Kayla Latimore, Mike Katsiff, and edited by our showrunner, Jess Jessica Reedy. Hello. Kamin provides our theme music. And thanks for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from npr. I'm Aisha Harris and we'll see you all next time.

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