The movie Hitchcock is the story of Alfred Hitchcock’s battle to make the movie Psycho. It’s hard to believe with the legendary success of Psycho, that Hitchcock had to sell it to the studio. Then again, how many times have we heard that story? The world is full of short-sighted people…

Story: I love biopics, so, I was totally intrigued to find out how the whole thing shook out in real-life. The writers did a good job of squeezing in as much detail about that time in Hitchcock’s life as possible. The relationship between him and his wife… Their relationship with the studios… Psycho before it was PSYCHO…

Performances: This is where this picture shines… Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock was spot-on. And given that Hitchcock had such a unique presence, he had a template for the performance, but, a lofty goal for pulling it off. He pulled it off…

His leading ladies were also great – Helen Mirren as his wife Alma was the only character for which there were likely no pre-conceived notions as she was not a part of the spotlight. But, Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh and Jessica Biel as Vera Miles were particularly interesting performances. They both really channeled the demeanor of characters of the time. Polite, demure, poised…

I also want to make note of James D’Arcy as Tony Perkins and Ralph Macchio as Joseph Stefano – the screenwriter for Psycho. It was interesting to see how Hitchcock cast them in their roles because their personal history was such a mirror to the story. And Toni Collette as Hitchcock’s secretary was so good, I didn’t even recognize her!

Visual: Spot-on. It looked like the 60’s and it felt like the 60’s. Costumes and props were completely accurate – I only heard one line of dialog that sounded to modern. But the look was excellent.

Rating: How do you give a rating to a story about one of the most popular suspense films created by the king of suspense films? It gets an A of course. I don’t know how a writer or producer could have screwed up this film and since they didn’t…

If you love biopics like I do, you’ll love this one even more. The truth behind the final product is always so interesting and this version doesn’t disappoint. See it anywhere you can…