I didn’t know what to expect when I saw The Front Room by Sam and Max Eggers from A24, which stars Brandy Norwood, most commonly known as just Brandy. I just wanted to see this because Brandy was in it, honestly. From the mid-90s through the early 2000s, Brandy was one of US entertainment’s most prominent young stars. While she’s been active, she wasn’t as active in the zeitgeist as in her youth. In the last few years, there have been more things she’s been in, especially this year with her return as Cinderella and now starring in this A24 psychological horror film based on a short story by Susan Hill. Brandy plays Belinda, a struggling-to-get anthropology professor expecting a child with her public defender Husband Norman (Andrew Burnap). They are living the current millennial married couple’s existence of scraping by while trying to have a life. Their lives are thrown upside down when Norman’s father passes away, and they have to take in his evangelical, overbearing, and possibly racist stepmother. From there, the film takes the stresses of caring for an elderly family member along with postpartum issues. It combines it with ghost-like dreams for Belinda and a lot of What Ever Happened To Baby Jane, leading to one of the most entertaining and, at times, gross comedic horror movies I’ve seen this year.
Brandy is the star in this story, and the whole film does well by focusing on her perspective and reactions to everything happening. Most of the time, the film is just funny, going by how Brandy’s face looks when she sees something crazy happening from some weird white person or her stepmother-in-law. Belinda’s frustration comes from her dismay and insecurities about being a new mom. All that is diabolically exacerbated by the stepmother-in-law Solange, who is played perfectly by Kathryn Hunter. This actress does so much with her body and physicality in this role that blends comedy and evilness. Sometimes, her character feels like a character in a Looney Tunes short as she manipulates everything to make Belinda suffer. Andrew Burnap’s Norman reminds me of the 50s and early 60s sitcom husbands like Darren in Bewitched in his uselessness in dealing with the many problems that face Belinda. As much as he should help with the baby and his stepmother, he really pushes everything at home to the backseat for the promise of doing better at his job. This increases the stress and trauma Belinda has as the film does these weird walking dreams she has about threats to her and her issues with Solange. They get increasingly intense as Solange’s hold over the household tightens. That’s the most the film gets to a disturbing point psychologically. The film plays with the perversion of Christian ideals by some Evangelicals compared to Belinda’s knowledge of history and where some of these beliefs originate from, but it isn’t explored that deeply. Overall, The Front Room is entertaining and far from amazing, but it is a nice and welcoming return for Brandy to the silver screen.
Score: C+
