Upon its announcement, Hitchcock immediately began to
reserve its seats at the Kodak (um…. sorry, the Dolby) Theater. It’s a biopic
with heavy pedigree in front of the camera. But leading up to its
release there ended up being cracks in the road to the Oscars, including HBO
released a film focusing on another aspect of the famous director’s career. But
the most damning might just be the film itself. “Hitchcock” is a fun film, but
for such a specific topic the film is all over the place.
It’s hard to tell exactly the right tone that director Sacha
Gervasi is attempting to strike. There’s an off-kilter, dark comedy tone that
comes through at times. But more times than not the material seems it would
be better served by a darker, more serious tone to reflect the psychological
effects that went on among the auteur and his cast. Black Swan screenwriter
John McLaughlin also wrote Hitchcock, so we know he can go to the darker recesses
of the mind when asked nicely.
The film revolves solely around the making of Psycho and when
dealing with the movie making, the film is at its best. Despite an award worthy
performance by Helen Mirren as wife Alma, the subplot of Hitch thinking his wife is cheating
on him and his retreating into his mind for imaginary conversations with serial
killer Ed Gein (whom Norman Bates is based) are time fillers and distractions
from the main focus of the film. Perhaps because of these tangents, the film
wraps up quickly upon the opening of “Psycho” with a few text slides before the
closing credits serving to give proper closure.
Prior to its opening, Anthony Hopkins was the one dominating
most awards talk. That has since quieted. If anyone has ever been unsure what
the saying “chewing scenery” meant, you have to look no further that Hopkins’
performance here. He is a walking caricature with his over the top waddle to
his over pronunciation while attempting to do get the director’s correct
articulation.
Hitchcock offers a stellar supporting cast. Roles by
Scarlett Johansson, as Janet Leigh, and Jessica Biel, as Vera Miles, are sorely
underwritten. Biel suffers from barely any screen time, despite Miles and
Hitchcock having a rocky history together that is summed up in a single
monologue. Toni Collette, as Hitch’s long suffering secretary, does get a few
good scenes. Yet, even she ends up as merely a background prop most of the time
with an exacerbated look on her face.
The most fun to be had during the film is the tongue-in-cheek
opening and closing to the film that is a play on the old introductions the
director offered during his television. It offers up a macabre look at what the
film might have been, but the film doesn't follow through on its promise. Hitchcock is merely a skin deep puncture wound for a topic who always knew the best way to
deliver fatal blows.
