Set during the making of 'Psycho, Anthony Hopkins plays the 'master of suspense', and embodies the character without becoming a caricature. Helen Miran is good as his long suffering wife and partner Alma, with one scene in particular in which she unleashes her pent up frustration at Hitch's blonde lust, too audience applause.
'Hitchcock' tries to do a lot of things and manages pretty well, there's a little camp as it starts and ends like an episode of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' and we see his classic silhouette. Hitch even makes an appearance in the form of a photograph. There's horror as Hitch speaks with an apparition of Ed Gein (the inspiration for the book Psycho) and suspense as Hitch thinks his wife may be having an affair with a writer and we don't know what action his jealousy will take. There are battles with Paramount and the Motion Picture Production Code (Hays code) officials. The supporting players, Toni Collette, Michael Wincott, Jessica Biel and Ralph Macchio do a nice job, Scarlett Johansson, though, seemed 'stagey', like her direction was 'act like your in a 1960's movie', rather than in a movie taking place in 1960. James D'Arcy seemed to be channeling Anthony Perkins right down to the crooked smile. I think the film would have been better served avoiding the personal drama between Hitch and Alma and focused more on the difficulties in making this classic piece of horror. But it had a sense of fun that the audience seemed to like.
'Hitchcock' tries to do a lot of things and manages pretty well, there's a little camp as it starts and ends like an episode of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' and we see his classic silhouette. Hitch even makes an appearance in the form of a photograph. There's horror as Hitch speaks with an apparition of Ed Gein (the inspiration for the book Psycho) and suspense as Hitch thinks his wife may be having an affair with a writer and we don't know what action his jealousy will take. There are battles with Paramount and the Motion Picture Production Code (Hays code) officials. The supporting players, Toni Collette, Michael Wincott, Jessica Biel and Ralph Macchio do a nice job, Scarlett Johansson, though, seemed 'stagey', like her direction was 'act like your in a 1960's movie', rather than in a movie taking place in 1960. James D'Arcy seemed to be channeling Anthony Perkins right down to the crooked smile. I think the film would have been better served avoiding the personal drama between Hitch and Alma and focused more on the difficulties in making this classic piece of horror. But it had a sense of fun that the audience seemed to like.