HITCHCOCK IS A FRIGHTFULLY GOOD FILM

Good evening, and welcome to my review of Hitchcock.

In Hitchcock, we follow the great director when he is at a crossroads. Afraid that he is growing old, and fearing that he will have to repeat the same film until he dies, Hitchcock latches onto a promising but risky idea: adapting Robert Bloch's Psycho for the silver screen. When Paramount refuses to finance the film, Hitchcock and his wife Alma decide to foot the bill themselves, thus putting their house and beloved swimming pool in jeopardy. Adding to the stress of making the film is Hitchcock's suspicion that Alma may be having an affair with a wanna-be script writer. Will all this be too much for Hitch to handle?

Playing the famous director is none other than Anthony Hopkins. This is certainly one of his most difficult roles he has had to play, and it will without a doubt be one of his most scrutinized. I can safely say though, that luckily for us, Hopkins does a fantastic job as Hitchcock. He plays the role with a maturity that I honestly didn't expect. He easily switches from a childlike playfulness to anger to despair and so on and so forth. He does a pretty well-rounded and even portrayal of the director, and easily blends into his role here....it's not too hard to forget that this is Hopkins and not Hitchcock we are watching on the big screen.

Helen Mirren plays the role of Hitchcock's long suffering but faithful and devoted wife Alma, and is perhaps the strongest performance in the whole film. Mirren sells her role with a quiet sadness but a determined spirit that is entrancing. It is clear that she is the strongest one in the relationship, and is the support behind Hitch. Without Alma there to support him, Hitch falls apart as we get to witness first hand via an unconvincing and fictionalized romantic subplot that comes across as a bit forced.

Speaking of Alma and Hitch, Mirren and Hopkins have fantastic chemistry on screen, and it is a great joy to watch these two talented actors go toe to toe and play off of each other. Their dynamic on screen is endlessly watchable and makes for some of the most enjoyable parts of the film.

Scarlett Johansson is perfect as Janet Leigh, the leading lady of Psycho. The film only alludes to hitch's obsession with his blonde leading ladies. We never see Hitch make any obvious advances towards Leigh in the film, but they do share a good amount of screen time together. Their relationship on screen is more friendly than anything else. Johannson plays her role perfectly, as I've already said. She not only looks just like Leigh, but her portrayal is simply fantastic, you will forget you're watching Johansson on screen. This is easily one of her best performances.

James D'Arcy also leaves quite the impression with his portrayal of Anthony Perkins. His portrayal is perfect, and makes for another performance where you will believe that Perkins has been brought back to life. D'Arcy perfectly captures Perkins' speech, body language, and look....making for quite a stunning performance. Unfortunately, D'Arcy isn't given much screen time but his few scenes he has he makes count.

Both him and Johansson throw their backs into their roles here, and they help to lift the film up to a higher degree. These two definitely deserve best supporting actor/actress nods for their work here as they prove that they are some of the more talented actors working today. They took small, throw-away roles and made us sit up and take notice.

Now onto my only complaint about the film: the romantic sub-plot. As I said before, in the middle of the film there is a fictional sub-plot about a sort-of/kind-of/not-really affair between Alma and another screen writer. The subplot only takes up space and makes for an unneeded and somewhat silly element. For starters, I couldn't take it seriously because it was created solely for the film and secondly, it takes away from the neat making-of aspect the film has going for it. That said, it does do some good in that it builds up to one of the film's best scenes: A heated argument between Alma and Hitch where both finally reach their breaking points. There are also silly parts of the film where Hitch gets to interact with Ed Gein, who gets to act as Hitch's guide/mentor throughout the film. These parts are kind of neat, but they also feel out of place and, as I said before, silly.

Hitchcock is a film that sets itself up to be a behind the scenes look at the making of Psycho, and while this is sprinkled throughout the film Hitchcock is really about the relationship between Alma and Hitch which is only exemplified by that unneeded subplot. I do like getting to delve into their relationship, and the subplot does act as more of a means to an ends (without it how would we get to see how much Hitch really needed Alma?) but for the most part, as I already said, the subplot only drags down the film.

Luckily, the film does sprinkle in neat real life touches to the famous director. We get several iconic shots of Hopkins as Hitch, his two dogs appear in several scenes,  a shot of the Psycho House in the background, a neat little reference to The Birds at the end, and much much more. I also like how Hopkins speaks directly to the audience at the beginning and end of the film, making for nice bookmarks and giving Hitchcock a nice, complete feel.

Hitchcock was the rare film where I was geeking out quite a bit, so naturally I liked it a whole lot. While it is dragged down by that bothersome romantic subplot, the performances and making of aspect are strong enough and interesting enough that by the end you should have forgotten that subplot was even in the film at all. I am happy to give Hitchcock an enthusiastic 3 Stars, it is indeed a very good film that manages to be both entertaining and insightful though it is a bit fictional at times. Hitchcock is a film that should please any Hitchcock fan, horror fan, or movie geek.

3/5 STARS