Review of Hitchcock (2012) by Foxgrove — 08 Feb 2013

Comparisons with 'The Girl' are inevitable, but whilst this isn't as good, it certainly paints in a rather better light. On the whole this is an entertaining and fairly lightweight concoction, performed to perfection.

Anthony Hopkins is much better in the role of the famous director than I had been led to believe and Helen Mirren turns in her usual high calibre performance as his wife Alma Reville, the backbone behind the man.

The main fun with the film is watching well known actors play other well known personalities. Aside from the two leads, Scarlett Johannson registers well as Janet Leigh, and in a very small role James D'arcy absolutely nails Anthony Perkins displaying all that actors nervous tics and hesitancy.

His is a performance I would like to have seen more of. Recreations of the making of Psycho are great and the film generally entertains without displaying any of the heavy drama that made 'The Girl' so compelling.

There are merits to each film and both present in a slightly different way. The truth is probably somewhere in between.