Holland: Movie Review

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Matthew Macfadyen, Gael Garcia Bernal
Director: Mimi Cave

If Holland does anything right, it's capturing the feeling that Nicole Kidman really has perfected the art of the Stepford Wives' style of acting.

In this latest she plays Nancy Vandergroot, a teacher and tradwife who believes everything is perfect at home in her idyll of Holland, Michigan.  But when her dentist husband Fred, played by Succession star Matthew Macfadyen keeps going out of town for conferences, she begins to become suspicious wondering what he is doing.

Teaming up with fellow teacher and potential paramour Dave (an underused Gael Garcia Bernal), she starts to investigate...

Holland has its moments, its unsettling visual imagery leading to an eerie feeling something darker lies beneath the seemingly perfect veneer.

But director Mimi Cave and the film's script don't quite know got to capitalise in the feeling of unease, sculpting a facade that's less fascinating than it thinks it is.

Kidman is strong though - albeit in a role she's played before, but the story doesn't give her enough to do other than looking horrified or appalled as she searches for answers.

Ultimately Holland feels far too familiar, afraid to mark out something new and not quite bold enough to reinvent the cinematic wheel or break free from it.

Holland is streaming now on Prime Video.