Starring Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren
Directed by Sacha Gervasi
When presented with subjects as delusional as Anvil, the wannabe Toronto rock gods, director Sacha Gervasi indulged their inherent ridiculousness, fashioned the deliriously entertaining documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil, and inadvertently granted them a semblance of the fame theyd always desired. Now transitioning back to narrative filmmaking, Gervasi inexplicably retains an irreverent approach to this supposed behind the (shower) scenes look at the making of Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho. As a result, a filmmaking icon is transformed into fodder for disposable entertainment that verges on utter rubbish.
The warning flags go up immediately as we watch serial killer Ed Gein (Michael Wincott) carrying out his grisly practices in a manner intended to be darkly comic but proving clumsy instead. If only this was the last we saw of the infamous madman. Alas, as soon as Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins) announces that Psycho inspired by Geins exploits will be his next film, the murderer begins popping up in his dreams for tête-à -têtes.
These absolutely ridiculous fantasy sequences prove indicative of a film that plays loose with recorded facts (particularly if such pesky details might impede an easy laugh). Similarly, Hopkins slathered in latex in order to emulate the filmmakers corpulence is similarly content to offer us a broad caricature of Hitchcock. This is only exasperated by the fact that Gervasi apparently believes that the best way of extolling the virtues of Alma Reville (Helen Mirren) Hitchcocks better half and unsung collaborator is to depict her husband as a borderline buffoon.
Unfortunately, it seems it was far easier to poke a little fun rather than taking a genuine stab at dissecting Hitch. Curtis Woloschuk
