Weekend Event Planner

These are the 9 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

Appropriately enough, a running theme through this weekend's events in Dallas is politics. With Inauguration Day on Friday, over half of the events on the slate below have an implicit or explicit political bent, with those expressions coming through dance, theater, comedy, and an actual march.

Below are the best options for your precious free time Thursday through Sunday. Don't like what you see? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, January 19

Danielle Georgiou Dance Group presents War Flower
With this new offering, Danielle Georgiou Dance Group investigates the establishment of culture itself. War Flower examines the cyclic and savage laws of time, nature, and ritual. In addition to original text by Danielle Georgiou, the show references political and philosophical texts, as well as political and ritual practices in animal ecosystems. War Flower is presented six times through January 28 at Bath House Cultural Center.

Friday, January 20

WaterTower Theatre presents Silent Sky
WaterTower Theatre presents the regional premiere of Silent Sky, a new play by Lauren Gunderson. The play blends humor and romance in a riveting exploration of the life and career of celebrated astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt, who fearlessly asserted herself in the male-driven, turn-of-the-century world of science and academia. The play runs through February 12.

Chippendales 2017: Best. Night. Ever. Tour
Some things may come and go, but buff male dancers stripping down to their g-strings for their admirers is something that's almost guaranteed to remain popular. The dancers of the Chippendales Touring Show provide a whirlwind of sexy goodness at House of Blues Dallas, with a lot of pants dropping and handclapping.

Saturday, January 21

2017 Texas Rangers Fan Fest
Spring training is only a month away, so it's time to get excited about the Texas Rangers again. The 2017 Texas Rangers Fan Fest features autograph sessions with current Rangers players and coaches; interactive Q&A sessions; on-field events; pitching, hitting, and fielding clinics; and more. If that's not enough, there's also the Rangers Awards Dinner on Friday night at Gilley's Dallas.

Dallas Women's March
On Saturday, millions are gathering in Washington, D.C., for the Women's March on Washington. In solidarity with that march, thousands more are expected to gather at Dallas City Hall for a so-called "Sister March." The Women’s March is designed to send a message to the world and to the new administration on its first day in office that women's rights are human rights. There is also a planned march in Denton.

USA Film Festival presents 2017 KidFilm Festival
KidFilm, presented by USA Film Festival, is the oldest and largest-attended children’s film festival in the United States, featuring an entertaining, educational, and diverse line-up of new and classic films for both children and adults. The free event, taking place at Angelika Film Center Dallas on both Saturday and Sunday, also features tributes to several prominent children's book authors.

Iliza Shlesinger: The Confirmed Kills Tour
Dallas native Iliza Shlesinger is the only female and the youngest comedian to hold the title of NBC’s Last Comic Standing. In addition to her stand-up work, her new TBS series, Separation Anxiety, premiered in March of 2016. If for some reason you can't get into this concert at Majestic Theatre, you might just see her earlier in the day at the Women's March, which she has pledged to join.

Sunday, January 22

The Dallas Opera presents Michael Fabiano
Michael Fabiano is considered one of the greatest tenors in the world today. In 2014 he was the first singer ever to be awarded the prestigious Beverly Sills Artist Award and the Richard Tucker Award in the same year. This exclusive recital, produced by the Dallas Opera, takes place at Dallas City Performance Hall.

Bill Maher in concert
For more than 20 years, Bill Maher has set the boundaries of where funny, political talk can go on American television — first on Politically Incorrect, then, for the last 13 years, on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher. With this concert at the Music Hall at Fair Park taking place just after Inauguration Day, you can expect Maher to have a lot to say about the current state of politics.

Bill Maher performs at the Music Hall at Fair Park on January 22.

Photo courtesy of Majestic Theatre

Bill Maher performs at the Music Hall at Fair Park on January 22.

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Movie Review

Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney go off in trashy film The Housemaid

Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney in The Housemaid.

Both Amanda Seyfried (the upcoming The Testament of Ann Lee) and Sydney Sweeney (Christy) are starring in movies with Oscar ambitions this year. By sheer coincidence, the two actors are also co-starring in The Housemaid, a thriller coming out within weeks of their more ambitious works, one that is likely to be seen by many more people than those prestige plays.

Sweeney is given top billing as Millie, a down-on-her-luck ex-convict looking to land any type of job so as not to break her parole. She finds a too-good-to-be-true lifeboat with Nina (Seyfried), who hires her to be a housemaid for her large house on Long Island, where she lives with her husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar), and daughter, Cecilia (Indiana Elle).

After a warm interview, Nina almost immediately becomes highly erratic, whipping back-and-forth between happy-go-lucky and rageful. It seems clear that Nina is suffering from mental health issues, as she’ll often accuse Millie of misplacing or stealing items that she didn’t take. Andrew, apparently used to Nina’s tirades, tries to protect Millie from the worst, something that grows increasingly difficult as Nina ups the ante.

Directed by Paul Feig (A Simple Favor) and adapted by Rebecca Sonnenshine from the bestselling book by Freida McFadden, the film is likely the trashiest mainstream movie to come out in 2025. The first half of the movie relies not on story but on moments as Nina embodies the word “hysterical” to an unbelievable extent. The resigned acceptance of the abuse by Millie, as well as the saintly patience of Andrew, make almost every scene laughable, as nobody seems to be acting anywhere close to how a person would normally react to such extreme situations.

The scenes and the performance of Seyfried are so over-the-top, in fact, that it’s clear that the filmmakers are in on the joke. It’s next to impossible not to have a little bit of fun while watching the actors react to outrageous incidents as if nothing is out of the ordinary. The worse Nina acts, the more Millie and Andrew retreat into their chosen roles, and the funnier the film becomes.

Fans of the book will know that the story changes course, eventually turning into a more stereotypical thriller that also has some relatively gnarly visuals to offer. But the trashiness continues, with Sweeney’s, um, assets repeatedly on display in both clothed and unclothed ways. The sex appeal of the R-rated movie makes it an outlier, as recent studio films have shied away from asking their big stars to disrobe completely.

Both Seyfried and Sweeney are far from their Oscar hopeful roles here. Seyfried is given free rein to act as brazenly as she pleases, and she takes full advantage of that ability. Sweeney seems to have been told to be much more reserved, and unfortunately that results in too many wooden line readings. Sklenar continues his breakout streak (It Ends with Us, Drop) with a role that allows him to show more range than either Seyfried or Sweeney.

The Housemaid is an unusual type of movie to be released at a time of year when most films are either those aiming for awards or more family-friendly fare. Despite its many flaws, it’s still an enjoyable watch that features a variety of crazy scenarios not typically seen in movies nowadays.

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The Housemaid is now playing in theaters.

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Weekend Event Planner

These are the 9 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

Bill Maher performs at the Music Hall at Fair Park on January 22.

Movie Review

Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney go off in trashy film The Housemaid

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