As soon as this movie opened with a young Ed Gein murdering his brother with a shovel, shortly followed by Anthony Hopkins' Alfred Hitchcock strolling into frame and addressing the audience, I knew I was going to enjoy this one.

Like Hitchcock's productions themselves, this film has just enough of all elements involved to make it a perfect formula. It never tries to dig too deep or reach too far in dramatization or artistic license. It simply presents a sharp and witty portrayal of the conception and production of Psycho – an entertaining enough story on its own – interspersed with sparingly-used daydreams and bits of fourth-wall humor. All the casting choices for Hitchcock are so spot-on as to induce amused, knowing laughter. Who plays Alfred Hitchcock? Anthony Hopkins, naturally. Alma Reville? Helen Mirren, obviously. Janet Leigh? Scarlett Johansson, of course. Vera Miles? Jessica Biel, who else? One of my favorite instances of this dynamic is Kurtwood Smith as Geoffrey Shurlock. It seems only fitting that the bureaucrat threatening to deny Hitchcock's lurid thriller an MPPC seal of approval is played by an actor famous for a role in a film that had similar troubles with censorship. And, of course, the icing on this cake is the score for the entire affair being provided by Danny Elfman.

Hitchcock exemplifies the common phenomenon of some of the greatest works of art seeming the least likely to succeed during their creation. It was inspiring as well as just plainly enjoyable to watch. I kind of want to go back in time and smack 2012 Riley for not seeing this movie when it came out. I daresay it may have given my interest in filmmaking a nudge several years ahead of schedule.