Is Amy Adams an Oscar Frontrunner for Nightbitch After TIFF Premiere? Here’s What Critics Are Saying

Critics are reacting to Amy Adams’ daring new role. Could it lead to the beloved actress’ first Oscar win?

Adams, 50, stars as the simply named Mother in Nightbitch, which had its world premiere on Saturday, Sept. 7, at the Toronto International Film Festival. The movie follows a new parent who pauses her career to be a stay-at-home mom — sparking an identity crisis in which she fears she’s turning into a dog.

Entertainment Weekly‘s Maureen Lee Lenker wrote that Nightbitch (adapted from the 2021 novel of the same name) is Adams’ “most fearless work yet,” adding that she “leans into the absurd wildness of it with gusto.”

Among the first reviews, critics praised Adams’ performance, with IndieWire‘s Emily Rife saying she shines best when her character is shown interacting with her 2-year-old son: “This adds welcome emotional complexity to the film, and tees it up for a closing monologue about the animalistic violence of childbirth that transcends the sometimes-trite mom humor of the first half and lands on something profound,” Rife wrote.

Adams “just simply envelopes this role, completely believable and compelling as a mom on the edge,” Deadline‘s Pete Hammond wrote in a review, also praising director Marielle Heller’s work.

“There is simply no way this movie could have been written or made by a man, at least to get the kind of stellar effect this amusing and moving valentine to moms achieves.”

Variety‘s Peter Debruge compared Adams’ performance in the movie favorably to America Ferrera’s Barbie role in a review. “Sinking her teeth into Mother the way Mother herself might a bloody steak, Adams courageously embodies Mother’s exasperation, finding the comedy in every setback,” he wrote.

“In Adams’ hands, Mother turns her identity crisis — the way the woman she was before ‘died in childbirth,’ leaving someone even she doesn’t recognize in her place — into a tour-de-force act of reinvention.”

From Collider, Ross Bonaime wrote that this is “one of the wildest, most ambitious performances by Adams, who yes, sometimes turns into a dog.”

Screen Daily‘s Tim Grierson said Adams’ “occasionally ferocious, often bone-weary turn is quite touching, the character telling herself she should be happy when, deep down, she isn’t.”

Over the course of her career, Adams has been nominated for Oscars six times: for the films Junebug, Doubt, The Fighter, The Master, American Hustle and Vice.

IndieWire asked her at the TIFF red carpet for Nightbitch how she felt about awards buzz surrounding her performance. “It’s not something I think about…” she began, adding, “But I’m always happy if a film connects in a way that increases exposure for the film.”

“And I think this film, I would love to hear different people’s perspectives of their experience watching this film, so the more we can get it out there to get more eyes on it the happier I’ll be,” she added.

The movie also stars Scoot McNairy, Arleigh Patrick Snowden, Emmett James Snowden, Zoë Chao, Mary Holland, Archana Rajan and Jessica Harper.

Nightbitch is in theaters Dec. 6.