Parents' Guide to The Good House

Hildy Good is an excellent example of a woman who's lived a big life and is still haunted by the demons of the past. It's a little about her mistakes, but it's more about carrying the weight of others on her shoulders since childhood. Hildy is the great-great-great, etc., of Sarah Good, one of the first women falsely accused of witchcraft in the United States. As marginalized women with tremendous strength often do, Hildy overcomes generational trauma by rising far, far above it. So when townspeople -- and her own relatives -- accuse her of being bewitched by alcohol, she's prepared with 350 years of lessons on how women can be marginalized by accusations and gossip.

That's the story of The Good House, though the witchcraft element is underused. Don't expect flying on broomsticks or a Witches of Eastwick-type payoff here: This well-made dramedy about the complexities of single, senior womanhood is far more grounded. What it's really about is portraying someone with an alcohol dependency who's in denial. Using wit and a charming main character, filmmakers Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky tackle the complexities of two topics that films tend to avoid: being a single woman in her 60s or 70s and alcohol addiction. And they manage to make it funny and relatable. And the acting? Weaver and Kevin Kline's romantic chemistry carries the ease of actors who've played love interests multiple times. The Good House may not be the film audiences think they're in for, but Weaver is so good in the role that it's impossible not to be enchanted.