The Woman in the Window (2021) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Joe Wright

Starring:  Amy Adams, Gary Oldman, Julianne Moore, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Anthony Mackie, Tracy Letts, Fred Hechinger, Bryan Tyree Henry, Wyatt Russell

Anna Fox is an agoraphobic child psychologist with her own set of traumas to deal with in The Woman in the Window, a solid if not outstanding thriller in which Anna (Adams) swears she witnesses a murder in the home across the street.   However, Anna doesn't make a reliable witness because of the large quantity of medications she ingests and chases with alcohol.    

For reasons made clear later, and I will not overstep and reveal spoilers, Anna hasn't been out of the house in a long time.   She is now separated from her husband (Mackie) and daughter; only speaking to them via phone and she has a tenant living downstairs (Russell) who isn't around all that much.   The new neighbors include a seemingly abused teenager Ethan (Hechinger) whose father Alistair (Oldman) has a sketchy past and warns Anna to stay away from his family.   That doesn't stop Ethan's mother Jane (Moore) from dropping in one night and sharing drinks and laughs with Anna, which may have led to Jane being murdered.  But, when Anna calls 911 and reports the murder, Alistair shows up to the apartment with his wife Jane intact, only it isn't the Jane that Anna hung out with nights earlier.   This Jane looks more like Jennifer Jason Leigh than Julianne Moore.   So, is Anna crazy or is something afoot?

The detective assigned to the case (Henry) wants to believe Anna, but he knows she takes too many pills and drinks too much to be completely credible.   The house Anna never leaves must cost a fortune.  A bigger mystery than if Jane was murdered is how Anna manages to keep the mortgage paid on her gargantuan, three-story Gothic home despite seemingly having no patients and even with a tenant paying rent.   Since The Woman in the Window is a nod to Hitchcock, these aren't the questions we should be asking.   

The resolution of the murder itself is fairly uncomplicated in the grand scheme of things.   The Woman in the Window is front-loaded with A-list actors (including two recent Oscar winners in Oldman and Moore) whose performances are better than the material.    When all is said and done, The Woman in the Window is well-made and gives us moments of suspense, but not anything substantial or even particularly memorable.  

And perhaps Alistair and company should invest in curtains or blinds so neighbors won't see what they're up to.