Texas and Baylor will face off in the inaugural Sprouts Farmers Market espnW Invitational on December 14 at Dickies Arena.
Photo courtesy of University of Texas Women's Basketball
Dickies Arena in Fort Worth will have the honor of hosting the first-ever edition of the Sprouts Farmers Market espnW Invitational, featuring a game between Texas and Baylor on Sunday, December 14.
The new event, owned and operated by ESPN Events, will be a matchup between two perennial women's basketball powerhouses, both of which are predicted to be ranked in the top 10 when the season starts.
The Texas Longhorns are coming off a season in which they they clinched their first SEC regular season title, earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, and made the Final Four before bowing out in the semifinals.
The Baylor Bears had another great year, finishing with a 28-8 record, which was good for second place in the Big 12 and a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament. They lost in the second round to Ole Miss.
"Since launching in 2010, espnW has been building towards events like this,” said Susie Piotrkowski, Vice President, ESPN Women’s Sports Programming & espnW, in a statement. “The espnW Invitational is a presentation of the game's top athletes competing at the highest level - delivering Women’s Sports fans more of what they crave."
Tickets for the espnW Invitational will go on sale on a to-be-determined date in the fall. Fans can secure first access to the best seats now by registering for the pre-sale at espnevents.com/espnw-invitational.
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.
