Review of The Bedroom Window

The jumping-off point for this movie was in fact very intriguing, but it devolves into some of the most unbelievably dumb decisions by the characters, via the writer and director. Totally incompetent detectives, totally incompetent prosecutor, totally accommodating judge, all-too-clever defense attorney (although I do love Wallace Shawn), PLUS out-of-character decisions that are worthy only of a third-rate farce. BONUS: Free parking spaces in front of major buildings, entering a professional ballet performance with no tickets (TWO characters get to do that), and a maid/housekeeper who could easily have kept her mouth shut (and should have). Sheesh. Not to mention the phone booth that is, of course, occupied by another person at the worst possible moment. What a cliche. And a whole lot more that makes zero sense. In fact, at the end, when a detective states what Terry (Guttenberg) is guilty of, he's actually RIGHT, but then says, "Kidding." I mean, what the...? I like Huppert, but found her somewhat wooden in her cold, calculating character. I tired of Guttenberg's constant deer-in-the-headlights expression. In fact, the one actor who stood out pretty well was McGovern, who gave more nuance to her character, although that character made unbelievable and dumb decisions.

Could have been so much better if the filmmakers had some respect for the audience's intelligence. Hitchcock's movies weren't always perfect and had occasional plot holes, but they generally didn't contain total howlers as are included in this one.

A beautifully-shot movie that's visually pleasurable, an opening gambit that grabs one's attention, but, alas, some real laziness and lack of research that sink this one to the bottom.