Rebecca is a new Netflix original that is an adaptation of the original novel which itself had already been made into a Best Picture winner by Alfred Hitchcock in 1940. I really enjoyed that previous film (except for the Hayes Code ending which was pretty B.S.) but I haven’t read the novel. I’m guessing this film is a closer adaptation due to that Old Hollywood censorship. But that doesn’t make it a better movie.

Rebecca is about a young servant woman who is swept off her feet by the very rich and very handsome Maxim DeWinter. Before you can say “honeymooning in the south of France”, they return to England and his family estate where she’s expected to become the new lady of the house. But she’s out of her element and the judgy staff can tell. She’s a pale replacement to the previous Mrs. DeWinter… the eponymous Rebecca. A dead woman who is clearly whose spirit (figuratively) haunts the house. And soon mysteries and schemes are afoot.

On the positive side, the movie does look great. It’s partly filmed on real locations which are pretty sumptuous. I think most of the effort was put into an attempt to make a movie that looks Old Hollywood.

But unfortunately, there are two insurmountable problems with the flick. The first is that Armie Hammer is working in full Block of Wood mode and Lily James is just an overstuffed bag of neurosis. There is reason for her to be out of her element but she either overplays it or the script has nowhere else for her to go. The previous wife Rebecca haunts every corner of the house and every corner of the screenplay. It goes over the top and I found myself thinking “Marsha Marsha Marsha!” every time Rebecca’s name is mentioned or embroidered or written down or uttered reverently. To be fair, maybe that’s exactly how the book goes, but here it just seemed overkill.

The other issue is that, by the end of the film, you kind of realize there was a lot of padding, misdirection, and red herrings in the middle act. This isn’t actually a haunted house movie but the film sure wants you to think it is. But when the questions get answered, I realized that there’d been a lot of wheel spinning… and since I thought the film was overacted and poorly edited, it has a kind of plodding pace intercut with exasperating anxiety from James.

Now, the movie’s final act has some life to it. It does that with some heavy helpings of melodrama… but at least it’s drama. I can’t say this was great, but at least it wasn’t boring. Maybe a little unsatisfying, but it was at least something.

So not a particular recommendation at all. Just too many problems it couldn’t overcome. I’m not even being an exasperating “but in the original film” because I saw that once twenty years ago and barely remember the details… and the one thing I’m solid on was the terrible ending and that’s one thing this new film did better. But I guess, in the end, it’s hard to compete with Hitchcock.

Score: 68