“The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” is a new Hulu streaming exclusive that may sound familiar to viewers of a certain age. That’s because it’s a remake of the 1992 Curtis Hanson-directed film of the same name, starring Annabella Sciorra and Rebecca De Mornay. The original wasn’t a particularly great film, but it was an entertaining domestic thriller despite its silliness. This new twist on the story doesn’t fare as well.
Directed by Michelle Garza Cervera and written by Micah Bloomberg, this new iteration of Amanda Silver’s 1992 screenplay uses the basic framework of the original film but surrounds it with a considerably different and less compelling story. This is enough to distinguish the film from its inspiration. But mostly it’s a dull contemporary reimagining that relies too heavily on the incompetence of the characters and the audience’s willingness to follow along, no matter how frustrating things get.
The film stars a committed Mary Elizabeth Winstead who squeezes what she can from her character. She plays Caitlin Morales, a successful Los Angeles lawyer who has just given birth to her second daughter. A badly injured Caitlin and her remarkably dense husband, Miguel (Raúl Castillo), live comfortably in an upscale suburb where the only real downsides are speeding cars and the need for a stop sign.
Caitlin is about to return to work while hoping to avoid another ill-defined postpartum episode like the one that followed the birth of her first child. To help them, Caitlin and Miguel decide to hire a nanny to help them look after their 10-year-old Emma and their newborn Josie. They choose Polly Murphy (Maika Monroe), a former client of Caitlin’s office who impresses Caitlin with her knowledge of saturated fats and microplastics. Polly wastes no time ingratiating herself to the family, even earning an invitation to move into their spare bedroom.
Surprisingly, Polly’s hushed intensity and icy demeanor don’t set off warning sirens. Instead, she gains the complete trust of Caitlin and Miquel. Of course, we know immediately that she’s up to no good and that she’s not the person she says she is. We watch Polly secretly break Caitlin’s rules to win the children’s affections and methodically work to turn Emma against her mother.
It takes a while before Caitlin finally becomes suspicious, but she receives no support from the oblivious Miguel, who wouldn’t be able to see the light if he looked at his son. So we have to watch an hour of endless lighting as Polly pushes Caitlin past her psychological edge. This is where the frustration sets in as the film becomes a near-endless cycle of Polly’s cruelty, Caitlin’s suffering, and Miguel’s mind-boggling unconsciousness. Meanwhile, any hint of the motive for Polly’s actions is hidden until late in the film, when any chance of building suspense is gone.
Many of the film’s crazy attempts to modernize the story seem thematically lazy. Look no further than his failed attempt to address childhood trauma. What’s even more surprising is the lack of real tension, especially in a film with this kind of premise. The pace finally picks up as the film moves toward a payoff. But even then, the rush of the final act reveals that it is too little, too late. “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” is now streaming exclusively on Hulu.
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