Yes, I'm years behind in reviewing this (2016 for a 1998 movie), but it's on TV right now and I'm writing this after Norman cleans up the murder scene. I couldn't even get farther than that before I had to come here to express my displeasure, annoyance and embarrassment about this so-called remake.
First off, Vince Vaughan is absolutely horrendous. He shows no more acting finesse, depth or imagination than a weak high school actor. And that's just judging him on his own merits. Compare his performance to Anthony Perkins' utterly stunning, nuanced performance of depth and complexity and the viewer feels either embarrassed or sorry for Vaughan taking on a role he simply hasn't got any caliber of chops to play. I wish I could've jumped onto the set two weeks into shooting and rescue him so he'd save face. That, or I want to slap him silly for thinking he could actually play this role.
Anne Heche seems lost. She's neither full of anxiety nor cheerful nor proud. Somehow she TRIES to play each in moments but each comes across as insincere. Shallow. I see her acting, or trying to. Trying to squeeze out the emotion the director called for in each shot. But here, too: zero acting finesse. Just going thru the motions and hitting the marks with no real life going on inside.
These two (and the real estate office co-worker, too) seem like awful Saturday Night Live performers trying their hand at drama. And, somehow every actor today (up to the point I watched this film) delivers his lines unnaturally. For a period I was in the kitchen only hearing Vaughan deliver his lines. Again, he sounded like a high school actor with no life behind the lines. Just throwing them out in a drab manner.
And while one wants to admire Gus Van Sant because Gus Van Sant, I can only lower his career peg a few notches over this debacle. Hitchcock had - again, this word - finesse with his shots (with help from expert editing). Here, both directing and editing seem lackluster. While one would like to avoid comparisons between the two films and judge this one on its own, I cannot in this regard. In the original, I distinctly remember the combination of editing and directing causing brief shots to interrupt and flow with flawless tempo. For example, the shot through the shower curtain (after the stabbing) of the killer turning the corner out of the bathroom and out of view. In the original it's a quick flash and almost suggested, as if you happened to glance up from the dead body and you thought you saw something. In this version, Van Sant (and the editor) let the shot play out more fully, making the tempo clunky. There are countless examples of this. Even the bird picture falling off the wall seemed stilted.
In the original, there's one shot I never read anyone mention in any review anywhere (look for this in the original): after Norman discovers the murder and goes into the office to grab a mop and bucket, he closes the office door. This always struck me as odd; why are we, the audience, left outside to look at a closed door? On closer examination of this peculiar shot of the closed door, I noticed the shadow of the roof eave on the door with its window make the very distinct shape of a guillotine! Ah! THAT's why Hitchcock had us wait outside with the door closed. To give us a sort of subliminal hint of death. In this remake, there's nothing anywhere close to such clever imagination.
The film is still running in the other room as I now finish this. Will I continue to watch? Perhaps, for awhile. To see how bad the rest of it is. At least Anne Heche is out of the picture now.
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