Without A Hitch

With a film like this, a remake of a classic film, the classic is always the best version, however, I still enjoyed 1998's "Pyscho" remake. One of the main reasons I enjoyed the film was the amazing cast, which included so many of my favorite actors, such as William H. Macy as the suspicious investigator, Julianne Moore as the concerned sister and Philip Baker Hall as the police chief. All three of these actors appeared in the 1999 ensemble film "Magnolia", another film which I highly enjoyed. Vince Vaughn plays creepy well, which is something he also does as a scary stepfather in 2001's "Domestic Disturbance", but instead of looking at all like original Norman Bates Anthony Perkins, Vaughn in some scenes resembled actor Kevin James. I loved the vintage feel of the film. The original film was in black and white, but this film still resembled something from the 60s with the pastel colors and vintage outfits. Macy, as the investigator, wore a hat similar to the one his 1950s era salesman character wore in the 2003 TV movie "Door to Door".  Hitchcock's "The Birds" (1963) was somewhat referenced in this film, since Norman's office and the motel rooms were covered with pictures of birds and their stuffed corpses were mounted on the walls. A man resembling Alfred Hitchcock appears in the same scene in which the man himself cameoed in the original film. This film makes Bates out to be more of a perverted peeping tom than the original film does, showing him spying on Marion through a hole in the wall and pleasuring himself as he watches her undress. This is not something that would have been seen in the original film, of course. Nor would Macy have been able to spout lines like 'if it don't gel, it ain't jello' when facts about Marion's disappearance just don't add up. One thing that bothered me about this film is that the original "Pyscho" house was not used as the house in this film. If they can use it for a memorable episode of "Murder, She Wrote" which did indeed happen, then I can't imagine why it wouldn't be used for an actual reimagining of the original film. Oh well, despite that and other flaws associated with the remake of a classic film, this one wasn't bad. Again, so many great actors were in this and I loved seeing them all. Rita Wilson as a perky office girl, Robert Forster as a psychiatrist, Viggo Mortensen as the macho boyfriend, the late Chad Everett as one of Marion's clients, and even Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers as Mortensen's coworker, all made this one fun to watch.