The Front Room is too silly to be scary but not silly enough to be a camp classic

The Front Room belongs to Kathryn Hunter, Kathryn Hunter is The Front Room. Without her, the film doesn't exist at all. And that's not shade to Brandy or Andrew Burnap, who are both excellent in their respective roles as the beleaguered couple forced to contend with a cruel, ultra-religious, and estranged stepmother. But the script and plot are so thin that nothing would remain if you removed Hunter from the film.

At the heart of this film is the age-old tale of a wife having hardcore beef with her mother-in-law, or in this case, stepmother-in-law. The couple in question is Belinda (Brandy), a teacher, and her aspiring attorney husband, Norman (Burnap). Belinda is very pregnant when she and Norman take Solange into their home after Norman's father dies.

In the beginning, Belinda supports the idea, primarily because Solange offers them a pretty penny, enough to pay off their home mortgage and much more. Norman is apprehensive because Solange abused him as a kid. He repeatedly says that she was a toxic presence in his life. The nature of Solange and Norman's messy relationship becomes a point of absurdity in the film, though the script never takes much time to peel back the complexity. It kind of sucks that Belinda convinces Norman to let this woman back into their lives, and maybe it would have been worth a conversation.

The Front Room starts with compelling ideas, and Hunter's exuberant and over-the-top performance makes it feel promising. A slow build reveals that Solange has some strange friends from a spiritual circle, and it's suggested she may have mystical powers of some kind due to her strong religious conviction.

Belinda becomes increasingly wary of Solange, especially when she finds out she has a certificate declaring her a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The Front Room is at its best when it focuses on Solange's chaos and simply lets Hunter do her thing while Brandy plays off of her.

But the problem is that the back-and-forth between them quickly becomes pretty repetitive. The film dances around commentary about racism and the country's dark history but doesn't delve all that deeply into it. And while it's fun to watch Hunter, there are only so many times you can see the same prolonged poop joke play out before it becomes a tactic meant to disgust and little else.

I think The Front Room can mostly be summed up by the fact that it's based on a short story (by Susan Hill), and it really feels like that. You can feel the edges of the plot stretching almost painfully just to make up the 90+ minute runtime. The plot doesn't feel fully realized. So yeah, it's fantastic fun to see Hunter and Brandy go head-to-head, but sadly, The Front Room doesn't offer much beyond that.

The Front Room is now playing in theaters.