Studio Movie Grill, once the innovator of the dine-in movie-watching experience, is attempting to reassert its dominance in Dallas-Fort Worth with the introduction of two new theaters in the suburbs and new upscale food options.
Studio Movie Grill Colleyville is scheduled to open in April 2014, boasting eight screens and more than 1,000 seats. It will be followed later this year by a location in The Colony that will have 10 screens and around 1,300 seats.
For starters, you can reserve your seat ahead of time at any location. No longer do you just have to hope you'll find your preferred spot — for me, dead center, four rows up from the bottom. Now you can just order your tickets online and choose exactly where you want to be.
Although you can still get your standard popcorn, nachos and sodas, Studio Movie Grill is also trying to appeal to foodies with options like hummus, tenderloin Cobb salad and carne pomodoro pasta. Starting in May, the theater takes it a step further with a new menu options such as sage-dusted pork chops and pork belly macaroni and cheese.
The two new area theaters (plus one in Tyler, Texas, and another in Chatham, Illinois) will make 19 Studio Movie Grills total, including eight in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Studio Movie Grill will soon add two new DFW locations, bringing the local total to eight.
Photo courtesy of Studio Movie Grill
Studio Movie Grill will soon add two new DFW locations, bringing the local total to eight.
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.
