Review of High Anxiety (1977) by Uditha D — 10 Dec 2011
High Anxiety was a really good spoof comedy... to an extent. This comedy packed spoof of nearly 20 Hitchcock films began with quite a promising start with an almost dialogue-free montage of sequences at the airport, culminating in Mel Brooks' Dr Thorndyke exclaiming "What a dramatic airport!".
From then on, the plot was convoluted with ridiculous no-no impossibilities, but that was exactly part and parcel of its charm. The scene at the Regency Hotel, however, was a bit too impossible to my liking, and overall, it was with the original humor, and not with the spoofs, that made High Anxiety a really great comedy.
Of course, some spoofs were excellent - I couldn't deny Madeleine Kahn's ridiculous lampooning of Vertigo's Madeleine/Judy as being anything other than charming - but in the end, all those original gaffes and blunders (especially those exceptionally hilarious camera closeup scenes) constituted the entirety of this wonderful comedy's laughter.
Too bad it didn't contain more originals. As a spoof, however, High Anxiety is a good comedy as well... to an extent.
This review of High Anxiety (1977) was written by Uditha D on 10 Dec 2011.
High Anxiety has generally received positive reviews.
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