Despite an overwrought finish, "The Good House" a wry, prickly showcase for Sigourney Weaver

The Good House (2022)

The way it’s marketed and the way it begins, “The Good House” looks like the cinematic equivalent of snuggling under a warm blanket. It is set in an inviting, tony New England beach town with all the lobster you can eat. Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline live there. Amidst the breezy, picture-postcard coziness, this is a dramedy about grown-ups for grown-ups dealing with alcoholism. Yes, “The Good House” isn’t just some superficial Coastal Living magazine cover come to life or even a starrier Hallmark Original. Based on the 2013 best-seller by Ann Leary, it tackles identifiable, insidious issues through a wryly humorous yet truthful lens with a terrific lead performance from Weaver. 

The film is set in the quaint, picturesque Massachusetts town of Wendover. At the start, local realtor Hildy Good (Weaver) breaks the fourth wall. Is this a real estate video? No, she is addressing us, and this device is less clunky than it is a beguiling form of rationalization for the character. After her employee and family organized an intervention due to her heavy drinking, Hildy tells herself she’s doing great. She gave rehab a try, and she hasn’t had a sip of alcohol, unless a bottle of wine after 5 pm in the privacy of her own home with her two dogs doesn’t count. Hildy is amicably divorced from her husband (David Rasche), who left her for a man. Her youngest daughter, artist Emily (Molly Brown), still asks for money to afford her Brooklyn apartment, and her eldest, overstressed wife and mother Tess (Rebecca Henderson), looks for help from her mom. With her reputation hanging by a thread, Hildy’s real estate business on the North Shore is about to slow down, especially after her former partner (Kathryn Erbe) poached her client Rolodex. But her love life might perk up with former flame and contractor Frank Getchell (Kevin Kline). As Hildy keeps digging into her secret box of wine bottles and popping open each one, she loses time when she’s drinking and her secret can’t stay (sorry) bottled for long. 

“The Good House” has a very lived-in sense of place. Filmed in Nova Scotia, Canada, the fictional Wendover feels like a real place. Given Hildy’s profession, she is very friendly with the locals and we get to meet a good deal of them, including newcomer Rebecca (Morena Baccarin), an artist turned rich married woman who gardens in her nightgown; an on-the-verge-of-divorce psychiatrist (Rob Delaney) whose office is connected to Hildy’s building; a struggling family with an autistic son; a man (Paul Guilfoyle) who drinks expensive coffee at the same table each morning; and Hildy’s ready-to-party friend (Beverly D’Angelo). Whether or not all of these people get their due time, they enrich the authenticity of this community for sure.

Married writer-directors Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky manage a light hand throughout, similar to how Hildy handles her addiction with irreverence (or is that denial?), but with consequences. The film casts Sigourney Weaver in the kind of witty, sexy-at-any-age role she can ace in her sleep, but she does not phone in this rich, persuasive, entertaining performance. Hildy believes, or tells herself, that drinking makes her be the best version of herself, while sweeping her vulnerability under the rug. Did we mention Hildy is a descendant of an accused Salem witch, Sarah Good, and able to read palms pretty accurately? In spite of his jarring Boston accent, Kevin Kline is his charming self as well, and of course, he and Weaver share comfortable chemistry as pros (this is their third pairing after “Dave” and “The Ice Storm”). The directors’ script, co-written with Thomas Bezucha (2020’s “Let Him Go”), almost gets too overwrought and borders on mawkish in the final 20 minutes, but the grounded performances allow the film to stay on track. Like the pricklier, slightly stranger, just-as-lovely companion to a Nancy Meyers-directed wish-fulfillment fantasy, “The Good House” just works. 

Grade: B

Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions are releasing “The Good House” (103 min.) in theaters on September 30, 2022.