Goodnight Mommy is the latest film to arrive to the growing library of originals on Prime Video. Now, when you think of “blonde, Australian actress”, I’m sure the first name that comes to mind is Nicole Kidman (especially after her residency at AMC). Personally, a name that should come to mind is Naomi Watts, who just happens to be best friends with Kidman in real life. Naomi Watts is a very underrated actress; she’s done it all, from starring in Peter Jackson’s King Kong to playing the late Princess Diana. However, her role in Goodnight Mommy is very different from what I’ve seen her in, and she is without a doubt the standout of this film.
Goodnight Mommy Review
The interesting thing about this film is that it’s a remake of a 2014 Austrian film of the same name. The film was a big hit, so naturally an American remake was bound to happen. The premise remains the same essentially: two twin boys are dropped off at their mother’s home by their father. When they arrive, they discover their mother has had some kind of surgery where her face is completely covered by bandages. As the boys continue to spend time with her, they begin to suspect that this might not be their mother.
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Naomi Watts is the main reason to watch this movie. Her performance as Mother is unlike anything I’ve seen her do before; she does a great job of switching between kind and scary as the boys continue to investigate her. Cameron and Nicholas Crovetti do a good job as Elias and Lucas, with Cameron (Ryan from The Boys) being more of the standout. Peter Hermann is always reliable in anything he’s in, so he doesn’t disappoint in the very little screen time he has.
Overall, if you’re looking for something somewhat scary with good performances, I’d recommend giving Goodnight Mommy a chance. I didn’t love it by any means, but it wasn’t the worst movie of all time. The script is a little all over the place at times, so it doesn’t flow as well as a good horror/thriller movie should. I hope Naomi Watts gets talked about more after it comes out tomorrow on Prime Video; she deserves to be more of a household name than I feel she is.
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