A Nicole Kidman Thriller Is Killing It On Prime Video After Flopping With Critics

"Holland," a thriller starring Nicole Kidman and Matthew Macfadyen, first premiered at the South by Southwest film festival in early March. I was there for its second screening at the festival and had a great time, but apparently I was the odd one out: the movie has a 23% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a solid 37% below what it needed to be certified fresh. When it was released on Prime Video on March 27, audiences didn't seem to like it either. It has a 24% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as a 5.0 out of 10 rating on IMDb. The low rating is baffling to me because "The Astronaut," which is the actual worst movie at the festival, is somehow beating it with its 45% RT score. 

Despite all that, Prime Video subscribers are watching "Holland" in droves. It's currently the #2 most-viewed movie of the week on the platform, right behind the hit 2024 blockbuster "Twisters." Of all the Amazon Original movies on the platform this week, "Holland" is being watched the most. 

Why's it so popular? Maybe it's because everybody loves Nicole Kidman, who gives a delightful performance here as the troubled and curious housewife Nancy Vandergroot. Or maybe it's because they love Matthew Macfadyen, who plays Nancy's oddly secretive and controlling husband, Fred. The two actors bounce off each other really well here, with Macfadyen channeling some of that sleazy, awkward Tom Wambsgans energy that "Succession" fans know and love. 

I think the reason "Holland" hasn't been beloved by critics or audiences is that its premise is a little played out. It's about a seemingly happy housewife in a seemingly perfect town who discovers that everything she's built her life upon is a lie. We've seen this sort of story a million times before, and while "Holland" is different enough to stay entertaining, it's never different enough to stand out in this oversaturated streaming landscape. It doesn't help that the trailer tipped its hand a little too much; I came into the movie with zero expectations, whereas anyone who's seen the trailer can probably guess the big twist before the movie even begins. 

The biggest thing working against "Holland" is the fact that, outside of the SXSW festival at least, it wasn't released in theaters. It's a shame because this is a surprisingly funny film. And even when it's not being funny, it's still throwing juicy twists and turns at you that are designed to get an audible audience reaction. Part of why I enjoyed the film so much was because I was watching it with a crowd full of people who'd waited in line for over an hour just to get in, who were laughing at every joke and gasping at every plot swerve. 

It's hard to overstate how much better some movies can seem when the audience is treating it like an event, rather than something they can casually turn on in their living room. "Glass Onion," for instance, seemed to get a stronger audience reception during that brief window where it played in theaters in late 2022. When it was eventually released on Netflix, audiences seemed less impressed, more nitpicky, less willing to engage with the work on a deeper level. I don't think "Holland" ever would've been a massive critical/audience success in theaters, but there's a good chance it would've gotten a lot more buzz than it's getting now. Still, becoming the #2 top movie on Prime Video certainly isn't bad.