When I saw the trailer for this, I was immediately intrigued, as my husband and I went to Holland, Michigan, a few years ago to look at their famous tulips. This quaint Dutch town really comes alive in May during Tulip Time Festival, and this event is actually featured in the movie. Set in the early 2000s, Nicole Kidman’s narration describes the charm of life in Holland, perfectly nestled along the stunning shores of Lake Michigan.

When we first meet Nancy Vandergroot, she is searching frantically for her missing earring. She then confronts her son’s tutor, Candy (Rachel Sennott), about stealing it, and she leaves the house, never to be seen again. Nancy is a home economics teacher who lives a pretty domesticated life with her ophthalmologist, church deacon husband Fred Vandergroot (Matthew Macfadyen) and their son Harry (Jude Hill). She tells us via voice over that she was not in a good place before she met Fred, though the movie never clarifies what she means by that.

At first, Nancy seems to be content with her marriage to the seemingly perfect husband that everyone in the town seems to adore. That is, until she becomes suspicious of Fred. She often confides to her friend Dave Delgado (Gael García Bernal), a Mexican immigrant who works at the same school. You can definitely see a spark between them, but it’s mostly coming from Dave. Nancy seems drawn to him mainly because she’s feeling let down in her marriage, and Dave offers her a chance to figure out what’s really going on with Fred. It’s a bit unfair to Dave, and it’s interesting to see how Dave confronts Nancy as their relationship heats up.

Directed by Mimi Cave (Fresh) and written by Andrew Sodroski, the film is billed as a thriller, but the tone is largely comedic and even goofy at times. I didn’t think a comedy duo featuring Kidman + Bernal was in the cards prior to seeing this. Kidman is a reliable actress, and she’s terrific in the role, though at times Nancy reminds me of her character in The Stepford Wives. Even the poster is reminiscent of that 2004 comedy sci-fi horror where the subservient and domestic women of the suburban Stepford have been replaced by robotic duplicates.

Kidman conveys that sense of isolation well while she tries to hide that everything is ok. She seems to feel like an outsider in her own family as Fred and their son are tight; they’re shown frequently spending time together playing with their massive train set. Meanwhile, Macfadyen relishes his quietly sinister side as a domineering husband, masking his true nature with outdated chivalry and his reputation as a ‘pillar of the community.’ Jude Hill was great in Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast, but he’s barely utilized here.

Some of the ominous elements are presented in the nightmare sequence that Nancy endures, but those elements seem to only exist in her head. That’s just one of the few curious elements that don’t amount to much in the story. Now, being from Indonesia, I find the Dutch elements amusing. On one of our family vacations to the Netherlands, we had a photoshoot where we wore the traditional Dutch outfits complete with the iconic “klompen” (wooden shoes), which ended up coming in handy in the movie, but I won’t spoil it for you.

I do think Cave did a great job of creating intense tension in ordinary moments and turning a lively event like the tulip festival into something unsettling. If only the story weren’t so tonally all over the place. Nancy and Dave’s quirky detective work to solve the mystery surrounding Fred often feels too silly to be taken seriously. The film’s identity crisis hits its peak in the third act, diving into bloody horror, but fans of that genre might say it doesn’t go far enough.

Overall, this is a movie that really doesn’t know what it wants to be. I expected more from Mimi Cave as her debut feature, Fresh, was critically acclaimed. This one has such a riveting buildup, but there’s no satisfying payoff in the end. It’s a real bummer considering the excellent cast made the most of the subpar material. It’s now available for streaming on Amazon Prime, which is just as well because it definitely isn’t worth the price of a movie ticket.

Have you seen HOLLAND? I’d love to hear what you think!

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