The Woman in the Window ★★½ 

THERE’S nothing like a bit of controversy to help sell a film.

In the case of the 2022 thriller The Woman in the Window, it’s probably needed.

Despite having strong hands on both pen and camera – adapted script by Tracey Letts (Bug, Killer Joe, August: Osage County) and direction by Joe Wright (Cyrano, The Darkest Hour, Hanna, Atonement) the film feels very familiar and fails to deliver an effective climax as a result.

The controversy is provided by Daniel Mallory, the author of the best-selling book upon which the script is based. Look up Mallory, writing as A.J. Finn, and you will find several issues that have raised eyebrows and caused questions since the book was published in 2018.

Amy Adams plays a psychologist, Anna, who has become an alcoholic since her husband left with their eight year-old daughter. Suffering from agoraphobia and panic attacks, she refuses to leave her New York apartment.

You guessed it, if you’ve seen a hundred other films with the same set-up, Anna witnesses a crime in a building across the street but the authorities don’t believe her. In Hitchcockian style, Anna tries to prove she isn’t going mad while solving the case and avoiding being killed herself.

Sorry about the lack of spoiler alert, but do you really need one? The film thinks its final act twist is very clever but it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to most thriller fans.

The best thing about the film is the cast which, apart from Adams, includes Gary Oldman, Julianne Moore and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Passes the time only.