The Hand That Rocks The Cradle-- My Take On The Movie With Spoilers!
Plot: When Caitlyn hires Polly as a nanny, she does not realize that she has sinister intentions for the family.
QUICK MOVIE REVIEW
Based on the 1992 movie, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle is a decent remake but may frustrate fans of the original who won't appreciate the changes to the storyline.
Maika Monroe plays the antagonist but displays the same acting skills as in her previous roles. Mary Elizabeth Winstead does surprise in a complex role and manages to carry the movie till the end.
THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE Plot Summary
Caitlyn is an attorney who is speaking to Polly about being evicted. Polly casually mentions she is in education, but is unable to pay her rent.
After meeting her, Caitlyn, who was pregnant, goes into labor.
She now has a daughter called Emma, a newborn Josie, and a husband, Miguel, who doesn't really help that much with the kids.
On top of everything, Caitlyn is irked by the lack of a stop sign on her street, which causes accidents.
She even tries to get the committee to agree to it. This will come into play towards the end of the movie, of course. Much like the Modern Family episode.
It's on one of the trips to the Farmer's Market that she runs into Polly, who quickly advertises herself as a nanny. Caitlyn decides to help her and immediately hires her.
It's possible that Caitlyn was desperate for a nanny because she doesn't really do a proper background check.
So here comes Polly, riding in her beaten-up car, and she wastes no time getting the family to love her more than Caitlyn. In fact, Emma gets even more attached to her nanny than to her own mother.
But Polly quickly gets to her mission of sabotaging Caitlyn. The first step on the list is to give the entire family food poisoning.
So while Caitlyn is cooking in the kitchen, Polly easily slips in, dunks a powder into the stew, and stirs it, all in the pretense of assisting Caitlyn.
During dinner, Caitlyn and Miguel's friends ask Polly where she lives and give her condescending looks when she tells them and then slip in the fact that it is too expensive living there and she may move.
Caitlyn isn't too happy to be losing Polly as a nanny, and her mind starts to work.
When everyone falls sick, Polly pretends she is sick, too, and Caitlyn invites her to stay with them at their guesthouse.
The closer Polly is to Caitlyn, the more she is able to sabotage her. But Caitlyn is oblivious to it all, and even gifts Polly one of her dresses.
Polly gets into Caitlyn's medicines and begins to powder and scrape another tablet, and replaces her pills.
Caitlyn slowly starts to become paranoid because of her new pills, and Polly uses this to her advantage to turn her family against her.
During a festival, Polly and Emma buy firecrackers, but Emma accidentally lights them up in her room.
Caitlyn gets mad at Polly and demands that she leave for endangering her daughter.
Polly leaves while Caitlyn gets second thoughts about treating her so shabbily, especially since she understands that she is getting insecure about Polly integrating into her family by chatting up with Miguel and getting Emma to listen to her more than her own mother.
In fact, Polly has already mentioned a story to Emma regarding how she didn't have enough to eat at one point, hinting that Polly's past has a tragic link.
Caitlyn tracks down Polly and asks her to come back home.
But things spiral once more when Caitlyn finds out her pills have been tampered with and then enlists her friend Stewart's help to find out more.
He does find out more: Polly is actually Rebecca. Caitlyn, who is actually Jennifer, had burned down the house of her abuser, who was Rebecca's father. The fire claimed the lives of Rebecca's parents and sister.
Stewart makes the mistake of calling Polly first despite suspecting she may be dangerous. She walks into the house, and Stewart acts his calm self like a therapist. Polly shows him what an awful and reckless decision he made by smashing his head with a baseball bat.
Caitlyn is called by Stewart's partner, who says she found him like that. Caitlyn understands what she had put her friend through and has done her own investigation by personally contacting Polly's reference and finding out that Polly actually has no work experience.
She lied on her resume! But then again, Caitlyn never even saw the resume.
Caitlyn goes berserk and storms into the house and sees Polly having a nice family dinner...with Caitlyn's family.
She throws out Polly yet again. When she says she will not leave, Caitlyn goes into Polly's room and starts packing her bag for her. In the process, Stewart's research file falls from her wardrobe.
Caitlyn lunges at Polly, and in all that commotion, smacks Emma, who wanted to get involved, too.
And so Caitlyn has to pay the brunt of her blow-up by getting a restraining order filed against her by her own husband.
THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE Ending Spoilers
Caitlyn finds out that her pills were changed, which caused her to act paranoid.
On one of her visiting days, she goes to see Emma at her sports game and apologizes to her.
Emma, who misses her mother too, accepts her apology and also shows her the research file she stole from Polly.
Caitlyn understands who Polly really is and sobs.
She decides to confront her at the house.
Polly is now pretending to be Caitlyn by wearing her clothes and adopting her hairstyle.
Caitlyn tells Polly she knows her true identity. She apologizes and explains that the reason she did it was that Rebecca's father was abusing her and that she knows he was abusing his own daughter, too.
Rebecca/Polly is in no mood to accept the apology. Her life went to hell after her parents died. But Caitlyn got to live her life and become an attorney even though she used to be an arsonist.
They both get into a fight again. Glass windows break, and the house becomes a mess.
Miguel realizes his wife may have gone to fight with Polly and rushes home.
Caitlyn is getting into her car to get away when Polly jumps on the car.
Miguel arrives to see the chaos. Caitlyn swerves her car, and because of the whole stop sign fiasco in the beginning, the car is hit, and Polly is killed.
But right before that, Caitlyn sits next to her and holds her hand. It doesn't seem that Polly has accepted her apology.
In the end, everything for the family goes to normal. Almost. Emma, heavily influenced by Polly, narrates a story about starving her baby sister.
The end.
FINAL THOUGHTS About the Movie
The Hand That Rocks The Cradle is barely about the Cradle. The original movie was about the antagonist believing her husband was innocent and still accused of serial harassment. After he commits suicide, the antagonist loses her baby and has to undergo a hysterectomy. This ignites her desire for vengeance.
The remake removes the point of the story. Yes, there are themes of abuse, but it never becomes the pivotal part of the story.
It's more about, oops, Rebecca made a mistake when she thought Caitlyn burned her house and family on purpose. Caitlyn is completely innocent.
The movie plays it very safe when exploring themes of seduction, abuse, and revenge.
All in all, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle is a very tame thriller that makes for a passable viewing.
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