Do You Like Hitchcock? (2005)

Must See Movie...

Admirable film.

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I *loved* the *idea* of the Dario Argento movie "Do You Like Hitchcock?" Being an admirer and fanatic of the Master of Suspense myself, I was all for a movie that was not only inspired by Hitchcock's masterpieces, but made homage to them and incorporated their influence into its characters. The idea of combining elements from films such as "Vertigo", "Psycho", "Strangers on a Train", "Dial M for Murder" and most notably "Rear Window" sounded like a real winner to me. So the concept of this made-for-television film rang like solid gold, however, the final product itself is not. Rather, I'm afraid to report, it's dreck.The whole premise is like a reworking of "Rear Window." A film student obsessed with Alfred Hitchcock gets to looking out his window, especially when he breaks his leg. And he becomes convinced that his neighbor across the street has committed murder. And he's convinced that his neighbor is also a fan of Alfred Hitchcock and may have been inspired by the master's films.Now the homage and the respect to Alfred Hitchcock is admirable, however the film is not. I will admit there was one moment of suspense that I actually found credible, but everything before and after it was so unbelievably dull, so preposterously dumb, so mind-numbingly slow and inferior that the movie resulted in nothing short of being a catastrophe. I had a feeling the movie was going to be a waste of time after its peculiar and unintentionally funny opening scene. I knew that when I saw yet another unnecessary sex scene afterward that the movie was going to throw a lot of idiotic and time-slowing ideas after another.I am not familiar with the director or actors' works, but I'm sure they have done much better than what I saw here. Elio Germano is rather dull as the protagonist modeled after Jimmy Stewart's character in "Rear Window", often rushing through his lines so fast that he's opaque, his girlfriend played by Cristina Brondo hasn't a sliver of the charm of Grace Kelly, and the murderers – the characters in a Hitchcock movie that were always charismatic or interesting – are as dull as they come…and badly acted. There is no menace from them.In addition, the movie also fails because it's trying too much to be like a Hitchcock movie, modeling a lot of scenes, cinematography, sequences, and so forth after scenes from the master's filmography. The movie doesn't seem to have an original thought of its own…and what it does have of its own is rather ridiculous. As hopeful and enthusiastic I was for this film, I'm sorry to report that your time is better spent elsewhere.

Do You Like Hitchcock? (2005) 1/2 (out of 4) I certainly do like Hitchcock but Dario Argento's latest film is a complete and utter disaster. Argento has been called the Italian Hitchcock since his first film and this movie tries to pay homage but it falls apart on every level. The film tries to mix elements of Rear Window, Dial M For Murder and Strangers on a Train but it comes off more as an insult than anything else. A nerdy film student likes to spy on his neighbors when he discovers a young girl and her mother fighting. The next day he sees this girl in a video store discussing the plot of Strangers on a Train with another girl. A few days pass and the girl's mother is brutally murdered making the film student believe that we've got a Hitchcock copycat going on. If it wasn't for some nice film buff discussions and some great posters of various Hitchcock films then this would be even worse than the horrid Phantom of the Opera that Argento released several years back. I was pulling my hair out watching this film because it has to feature the dumbest characters in giallo history. Much like American horror films, Argento has cast this thing with young actors but what makes matters worse is that none of them can act. The dubbing is atrocious and the story seems more like a Hardy Boys mystery than an actual Argento story. It's funny this thing was made for Italian television because it features more nudity and sexuality than any other Argento film I've seen. I had really high hopes for this film but it turns out to be probably my biggest disappointment of the year.

I wonder what goes on in Argento's head sometimes. I'm a huge fan of his work, even his 90's stuff that is usually, and unfairly IMO, dismissed as sub par, but this one just pales in comparison. Not only is it the worst film in Argento's fodder by far, it's a BAD movie on all counts.Now the usual flaws levelled at his work are bad acting and poor scripts, but this one just takes the cake. Ridiculous English accents from people that are obviously supposed to be Italian, and even the establishing shots make it obvious the movie is set in Italy (Turin actually). I could accept it if it was merely the English dubbed version, but from the lips movements, it was pretty clear the actors were speaking English. Awkward dialogues. Poor script, that can't for the life of it masquerade its ineptness through Hitchcock homages to Rear Window or Strangers on a Train. The "twist" and resolution make little sense. There's close to no gore, which on one hand is understandable as this is a TV movie produced for RAI Uno. But on the other hand, there's no suspense, and as this movie was constructed as a homage to the master of suspense, ultimately it fails. Actually, there's one scene that tries hard to be suspenseful (when Guillio tries to get away on a scooter from somebody chasing him), but it's handled woefully bad. The character is supposedly in real danger, but we never feel it, and the scene drags for too long. The comedic bits are far from funny. So what's left? Now, like any Argento fan would do, I would be ready to forget and forgive all these, if his usual flair for visual perfection was on display. But we get none of it. No intriguing camera work, no cameras peering from impossible angles, no rich set pieces, no perverse black-gloved killer, no inventive killings, nothing. Kind of like Jennifer, it's just so pedestrian, it breaks my heart. Pino Donaggio's music was nice and that was about it. I can't believe such a formulaic, uneventful thriller came out from the same guy that gave us Profondo Rosso.For Argento completists only.

I think this is a pretty good movie. There is not much gore in it, and sometimes the humor gets a bit too silly, but I still enjoyed it. There's more to Argento than just gory murder scenes. It's actually slightly more suspenseful as a whole than most Argento flicks, in a lighthearted and cheerful kind of way, and it's still has some pretty nice visuals. For being a made for TV movie, it's got a lot of style, with some nice camera work, and like the old Hitchcock movies, it has a lot of humor in it, and a lot of references to a lot of Hitchcock's films. After all, the movie is a homage to the old master of suspense, Sir Alfred Hitchcock. The movie is more like an old fashioned thriller with some of Argentos own unusual style. It was shot on 35 mm film. Sometimes it has the look of a TV movie, but with a lot of cinematic flair still there, and I was surprised of how much of the old Argnto trademarks that was still left in. Surprisingly, the picture's got a lot of mild nudity. The plot resembles a lot of Hitchcock's Rear Window and is about a film student who is a Peeping Tom who cant restrain himself from spying on his sexy neighbor and he gets in a lot of trouble for it.I thought it was a nice change to this time see Argento experiment with a different kind of a movie, and the script moves forward in a much more straightforward manner than any film he's done before.If you can live without the excessive gore, and are up for an unusually lighthearted Argento movie, mixed with some of his old visual style, then it's definitely worth a watch.