HitchcockMovie Reviews

So-so

Avg. Critic Score: 55 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore^® based on all critic reviews

Information for Parents:

OK for kids 13+

Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

83

Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman
It's a perfect summation of why he was the ultimate filmmaker. Read full review
80

The Hollywood Reporter | Todd McCarthy
This narrative directing debut by Sacha Gervasi remains absorbing and aptly droll despite a few dramatic ups and downs and, led by large performances by Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren. Read full review
75

Rolling Stone | Peter Travers
Hopkins and Mirren are acting pros in stellar form. There's no way you want to miss the pleasure of their company in a movie that offers a sparkling and unexpectedly poignant look at how to sustain a career and a marriage. Read full review
75

San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle
Hitchcock isn't ambitious or complicated. It's simple, does what it sets out to do, and gets out before anyone even thinks about checking the time. More movies should be made in its image. Read full review
75

Philadelphia Inquirer | Steven Rea
Jessica Biel is Vera Miles, the star who had the nerve to get pregnant when Hitchcock wanted her for "Vertigo." He feels betrayed, and she feels relieved, consigned to a supporting role in Psycho as Marion's sister. And Toni Collette, in glasses and a dark wig, is Hitchcock's long-suffering secretary, Peggy. Both Biel and Collette are very good, engaging. Read full review
63

USA Today | Claudia Puig
Though the film is titled Hitchcock and ostensibly centers on the legendary director, we get a better sense of the women around him than the enigmatic filmmaker. Read full review
60

NPR | Ella Taylor
The film never coheres. Trying to carve out a space between black comedy and straight evocation of a difficult but rewarding marriage, the movie never settles on a tone. Read full review
60

New York Daily News | Elizabeth Weitzman
Despite its definitive title, you won't actually learn much about Alfred Hitchcock from Sacha Gervasi's briskly superficial biopic. But you'll enjoy the experience anyway. Read full review
38

Boston Globe | Wesley Morris
This is all a long way of saying that the best way to better understand the man who made those and dozens of other movies is simply to see them. There's no case to be made for a mangy shortcut like Hitchcock. It's all surface and formula. Read full review
10

Wall Street Journal | Joe Morgenstern
Hitchcock rings false from start to finish. Read full review

Metacritic link View more reviews for Hitchcock on Metacritic

Information for Parents

Common Sense Media says OK for kids 13+ Entertaining biopic focuses on Hitch's marriage and method.

What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that Hitchcock isn't a full biopic of legendary director Alfred Hitchcock but rather a snippet of his personal and professional life as he made one of his most famous movies, Psycho. There are a few scenes of disturbing violence: the murder of a brother; a dead, bloody woman being dragged into a bathtub, and a killer who sleeps with his dead mother. The frightening shower scene from Psycho is depicted, with Hitchcock himself holding the butcher knife to elicit realistic screams from actress Janet Leigh. The language is comparatively mild ("ass," "damn"), but there are allusions to infidelity and sexual obsession, plus shots of kissing, groping, and women in their underwear.

Families can talk about how Hitchcock is about making a movie. In what ways has the movie industry changed since Hitchcock's time? How is it the same (for example, Hitchcock says a director is only ever as good as his last project)?
Is this really a biopic about Hitchcock or just a small glimpse of his life? What do we not know about Hitchcock? How could you find out more?
The relationship between Hitchcock and his wife is explored. What do you think of their marriage? Should Alma be credited with the making of Psycho?

The good stuff

Positive messages: Hitchcock is the story of the director's professional and personal journey to make one of the most important works of his career. The movie encourages artistic risks, commitment to your craft, and the importance of marital partnership and collaboration.
Positive role models: Alfred Hitchcock is a driven, visionary director who puts up his own funds to make the movie he feels destined to make. Alma Reville is an amazing wife and partner to him. She collaborates with him professionally, fills in for him when he's sick, and keeps him as sane as she can without sacrificing her entire identity. Even when she's tempted by an emotional connection to another man, she doesn't give in and stays loyal to Hitchcock. Janet Leigh gives Hitchcock the benefit of the doubt, even though she's warned about how tyrannical he can be with his leading ladies.

What to watch for

Violence: The murders of real-life serial killer Ed Gein are shown briefly -- from his first murder of his brother (via a hit to the head) to a bloodied dead woman he drags to a bathtub. There's also a scene in which Gein is shown sleeping with his dead mother. Psycho's infamous shower scene is depicted, with Hitchcock wielding a butcher's knife to make Leigh scream more convincingly.
Sexy stuff: Hitchcock stares through a peep hole at an actress undressing. Leigh's ample bosom is discussed (like the fact that one frame shows her nipple in the shower scene), and she, Alma, and Vera Miles are all shown in their period undergarments (cone-shaped bras, full-coverage underwear, and slips). Alma and Alfred hug and kiss a couple of times. A married man is shown mid-affair (groping and kissing a woman who's in her bra and panties). There's a brief shot of two actors filming a love scene on a bed (she's in lingerie, he's shirtless).
Language: Language includes "damn," "crap," "hell," "oh my God," "queer" (to describe actor Anthony Perkins), and insults like "corpulent," "fat," "ass," etc.
Consumerism: Not an issue
Drinking, drugs and smoking: Hitchcock is portrayed as a near-alcoholic who drinks in almost every scene of the movie. He often hides liquor from his wife.

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