What I liked
A vehicle for three actors, who pretty much deliver. BILL CHOTT anchors the whole show as a credible Hitchcock. (He’d be even better as Sydney Greenstreet!) LINDSAY SEIM floats in and out as a super-chic disrespectful acolyte and WWII refugee (30 yrs later?!)—-and may be the Best-Dressed Actress of HFF 2024! Personable AARON CAPONIGRO struggles to inhabit Mel Brooks, and doesn’t—-but he’s a 100% ringer for Garry Moore, tv-host of “I’ve Got a Secret” and “To Tell the Truth” for a generation past. If YOUR script co-stars “Sydney Greenstreet” and “Garry Moore”, your casting problem is Solved!
What I didn't like
Too many references are TOO tangential—-the Mel Brooks picture obviously became HIGH ANXIETY, but is never so identified, nor is his wife tagged as anything but “Anne” (do the UNinitiated know she was Oscar-winner Anne Bancroft?).
My overall impression
If you can’t keep afloat amid the unexplained hip references to Hitchcock and Mel Brooks that flood this Hollywood History lesson, it will be a LONG 80 minutes! If you already recognize most of the conversation from the Public profiles of “Hitch” and “Mel”, what are you there for? It’s all “made-up” history—-isn’t it?—-as it flits from quirk to quirk to quirk! The high spot proves to be an impromptu PRE-created version of “Sweet Georgia Brown”, in Polish (!) from ANOTHER (“non-Hitchcock”) Brooks picture!
