‘Nightbitch’ Trailer Unleashes My Inner Nightbitch

The Contending’s Megan McLachlan digs through Nightbitch trailer reactions.

A few summers ago, disheartened while watching the Pittsburgh Pirates lose (yet again) at PNC Park, my cousin and I devised an Air Bud-esque scenario that could save the Buccos from another losing season, drafting it like a screenplay treatment. In it, the Pirates enlist a Golden Retriever to play on the team, and the entire city falls in love with the dog ala Henry Rowengartner in Rookie of the Year. 

“Okay, what if the dog’s female?” my cousin posed. 

“That’s a great twist,” I said. “Because once the dog reveals she’s female, that’s when the town loses it because she can’t play in the MLB. You can be a dog in professional baseball, but you can’t be a woman.”

I thought of this idiotic anecdote while scrolling through the social media reactions to the Nightbitch trailer, as Amy Adams reveals she’s not only a woman, but also a dog. 

Nightbitch Trailer Reactions

When I watched the two-minute trailer, I was immediately hyped. It’s exactly what I expected from Marielle Heller and Adams and keeps with the tone of Rachel Yoder’s book — slightly comical, completely absurd, off-kilter with a touch of real darkness. And I can tell that the trailer is only skimming the surface of where this adult fairytale can and will go. 

Given the buzz around this film, I expected other awards people to be hyped, too, but I discovered descriptions of the trailer comparable to a “Farrelly Brothers movie” and Tim Allen in The Shaggy Dog. These pundits, all men, also said they were taking Adams out of contention for Best Actress, based on the trailer alone, even if TIFF is honoring her for her work in the film.

Okay, but what were you all expecting? The plot spells it out pretty loud and clear: a stay-at-home mother thinks she’s turning into a dog. Is it the green, feminine suburban glaze that scares you? The Miley Cyrus/Stevie Nicks mashup?

When Scoot McNairy says to Adams, “I would kill to stay home with him every day,” it dawned on me I had seen this narrative play out before, right on X and TikTok a few days ago. Men had come for stay-at-home mom @spettyjohn14 the way they came for Nightbitch. @spettyjohn14, aka Samantha, went viral for a teary-eyed rant pleading for her husband to help out a little more — or at all. 

@spettyjohn14 I can’t wait for the day I get to look back at this and say “look at what you survived” 😭 #singlemarriedmomlife #divorce #seperation #itendswithus #done ♬ original sound – Samantha

In the seven-minute and fifty-three-second video, Samantha says that her three-year marriage has been the worst period of her life. As a stay-at-home mother, she’s expected to do all the parental duties while he comes home from work and naps instead of watching his daughter. 

“I’m 30 years old, and I’m literally begging for the bare minimum every day. I’m a married single mom. Yeah, I don’t work, but the amount of weight I carry. I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. I shouldn’t have to wake a 32-year-old man up for work.”

In the comments on X, many supported her and recognized the frustrating situation she’s in, but there were also others who attacked her status as a stay-at-home mother. 

“You get to be with your children all day while he gets to do his responsibility. Busting his ass to provide for the life you live without having to work an actual job. American women are so fucking entitled it’s truly disgusting.”

“Anything you can do in your PJs isn’t a hard job. Grow up, lady. You made this decision.”

“She whines a lot for someone who doesn’t have to work. Probably why he lost interest in helping out.”

“Nobody wants to come home to that.”

“You sound like a super entitled bitch.”

“Whines”? “Bitch”?  “Nobody wants to come home to that”? Sounds like how you could describe. . .a dog? 

And the common denominator throughout all the complaints is that it’s not very hard to be a stay-at-home mother, so why is she complaining? She’s got it pretty good. 

Just as I winced reading the responses to this video, I’m bracing myself for the scathing male takes on Nightbitch, where they call it “unrelatable” and “unrealistic,” and like Samantha in the video, I’m begging men for the bare minimum in thinking outside of their own ass for a just movie. Women have been relating to male protagonists and their plights for years, and you can keep an open mind for an Amy Adams movie where she turns into a dog. You suspended your disbelief and put yourself in a woman’s shoes for Promising Young Woman four years ago. 

Now do it for the one where the bitch lives.