Nicole Kidman’s New Weird Movie Reigns Over Prime’s Top & Poor Reviews Failed to Stop It

When the news broke that Nicole Kidman was about to star in a new mystery thriller as a lone wife gone mad, the Internet went wild, making fun of the actress merely for still being active in the industry. Well, that and the fact that she has become typecast, playing only creepily cringeworthy personalities.

But we should also give Kidman credit for sticking to her rule of working with female directors on a regular basis. And this time with Holland it was Mimi Cave who directed the movie. After the huge success of her debut film, the cannibalism-themed horror Fresh, she landed her second project with the acclaimed actress.

Holland premiered at the South by Southwest festival on March 9 and was released on Amazon Prime Video on March 27. Despite only being on the platforms for a few days, it already managed to hit #1 on the platform's top charts. That's even after the film was met with poor reviews from both critics and audiences, resulting in a 26% and 25% Rotten Tomatoes scores, respectively.

What Is Holland About?

In Holland, Nicole Kidman stars as Nancy Vandergroot, the wife of an eye doctor, Fred Vandergroot, played brilliantly by Matthew Macfadyen. The two, along with their son Harry, seem to have a good life in the idyllic town of Holland, Michigan. But that's only on the surface, the reality takes us to a dark place.

Early in the movie, Nancy discovers that her husband is keeping a secret from her and begins to believe that he is having an affair. So she tells it all to her colleague, Dave Delgato, played by Gael García Bernal, and encourages him to help her find proof of her husband’s infidelity, all the while embarking on a passionate affair of her own with Dave.

Well, not to give you too many spoilers, their amateur investigation reveals a lot about all three of them, but more importantly, it unravels the real mystery of who Fred really is – a cold-blooded sociopath.

What Went Wrong With Holland?

Despite the fact that the premise is really a fan favorite — the seemingly ideal suburban life suddenly turning into a real horror — this particular movie fails in its attempt to be too clever. The viewers simply got lost in the trail of untied knots and couldn’t understand why everything was so messed up.

“It was like 3 different types of movies in one? The tone of a 1950's stepford wife with the perfect life in a clean cut neighbourhood, set in the 90's/2000's and she's having an affair...whilst investigating her husband for what she suspects is having an affair, then the wife of a serial killer trying to get away from him,” Redditor sqzr2 said.

Another thing that disappointed those who were eagerly waiting for the digital release is the pace of the film. Despite the fact that the creators introduced the possible plot twist early in the movie and made it too predictable, they didn’t create the much needed feel of suspense that any thriller needs to succeed.

Also, the movie could have let its villain, Matthew Macfadyen's Fred, play a villain for a little longer, because the only glimpse of him being truly evil (that one line on the beach near the end of the movie) gives you chills. So it feels like we were robbed of a character development that could have added so much to the story.

Why Should You Still Watch Holland?

While the movie leaves you with more questions than answers, it can also be seen as a good thing to exercise your imagination. When I searched Reddit for some of the theories that viewers came up with after watching the movie, there were some pretty wild ones. Here, for example, user Pixelpops suggests that the entire movie was actually the product of the imagination of the villain, Fred.

But seriously, the movie's visuals are stunning, as for the terms of creating life in Holland in a proper bizarre-ish style, and also the miniature world mentioned in the movie in several different ways added a layer to the story.

And of course, you can laugh all you want about Kidman's choice of movies these days, but there's no denying that she nails all the roles she agrees to play. So don’t miss the chance to see her in Holland.

“Nicole Kidman is awesome here, and she seems to have perfected this type of role in this type of film. Ironically, she’s done back to back films where she’s cheating on her spouse. Here though, she is suspecting that things are not alright with her husband. It's a suburban drama that is being buoyed by Kidman at her A game, but it just never makes itself interesting for the most part,” Redditor viewsofcinema said.

Holland is streaming on Prime.