[Nerdspresso] Mom's Got a Wild Side in Nightbitch

I think it’s safe to say in her new movie, Amy Adams does not play a cat person. In Nightbitch, now streaming on Hulu, she is a frustrated suburban stay-at-home mom who finds herself turning into a dog. Yes,  you read that correctly. Amy Adams is in a movie where she undergoes a canine transfomation. And it’s not played for laughs in the goofy Shaggy DA way that Dean Jones used to do it in those old Disney movies. 

This flick has been categorized as a horror comedy, but it’s more a surreal drama with some  laughs. Like the confessions of a mom who likes to chase squirrels and eat from a dog bowl. Nightbitch is surreal and outrageous. It has an acclaimed actress barking and running on all fours, but you totally accept it. The cast and filmmakers fully commit to this concept so no matter how bizarre things get, you’re along for the ride.

Based on the novel by Rachel Yoder, Nightbitch follows Adams as the struggling mom of a precocious toddler. Her sweet but clueless husband travels for a living so she’s alone with the kid for days at a time. The movie does a great job setting up the monotonous domestic routine of parenting a preschooler. She loves her child, but misses her life as a cosmopolitan artist in the city. One day drones into the next. 

Adams does not bond with the other moms at the play groups and activities so she feels completely alone. In the midst of this existential crisis, she notices weird hairs sprouting on her backside. Her teeth are also getting more pointy while her senses have grown more acute. These changes are all dismissed as hormones and hypochondria. Then the neighborhood dogs start buddying up to her on the playground and hanging around her house at night. 

She feels more kinship with these pooches than she does with any of the moms at storytime. Adams has dreams of running with the pack at night, howling at the moon, and chasing prey. But are they dreams? She notices more bodily changes, but is she imagining things or is this really happening? Writer/Director Marielle Heller, who also helmed the Mr. Rogers flick A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood with Tom Hanks, teases reality throughout the movie. 

Adams’ character has a rich inner monologue. There are multiple scenes where she confesses her thoughts to other characters and then the moment is replayed and you realize it’s all in her head. So when Adams has moments when she goes full doggo, you’re not sure if it’s supposed to be real. The beauty here is that Heller doesn’t force you to decide. 

Maybe the movie is about this first-time mother’s metamorphosis or maybe she’s just dealing with the transition to her next stage of life? There is a backstory about the character growing up Amish and seeing her own mom deal with similar canine behaviors so maybe it’s all some kind ancient folk legend affliction? That bit is not well developed enough for me to buy it. I lean more toward the whole dog thing as a metaphor. 

After watching this flick, I just wanted to give my wife a big hug. The movie is very effective at illuminating how dads can have good intentions but also be benignly selfish some times. I could totally relate to her hubby, played sincerely by Scoot McNairy from Argo and Speak No Evil. He’s well meaning but truly oblivious to his wife’s needs. 

Dad is a good provider, but feels his patriarchal responsibilities end with paying the bills. While he offers to do his part around the house, he’s helpless when it comes to most tasks. I’ve also been that dad that offers to cover naps and bath time but can’t locate the bottles, the bubbles, or the binkies. There are many moments here that ring very true and feel relatable. 

The film’s strongest comedy and drama erupts from these scenes rather than from the more outlandish segments. Heller and Adams tell a personal story with a very strong female point of view, but they do it without lecturing the male members of their audience. There’s a lot of empathy on display. You feel the burdens of sacrifice and the struggles of parenting. 

Adams is getting loads of praise for this role and rightly so. It’s a very bold performance, but not in the way that you might think. I’ll give her props for going full tilt as a woman who turns into a dog, but that’s not her greatest achievement in this movie. This role is definitely unlike anything else she’s ever done. Adams is not Lois Lane here or the princess from Enchanted or the sexy con artist in American Hustle. She’s something completely new. 

She is so emotionally raw in this flick that you feel all her guilt, exhaustion, and frustration as a young mom, isolated and overwhelmed. These emotions help Adams seem even more empowered in the dog scenes. In these moments, she is embracing her true self and that liberation fully plays on screen. Nightbitch is bound to divide audiences. It is unapologetically weird, but there’s no denying that Amy Adams’ performance is top dog.

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