Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Hitchcoc I first saw this when it opened in my home town movie theater. I had no appreciation of Hitchcock at the time, and have, over the years, put him at the top of my director's list. Finally, seeing it again, I realized my hesitation came from all the reviews that said Hitchcock's last film was a great disappointment. The thing is, when one has such a magnificent filmography, good or decent are seen as disappointments. This film has two plots working toward each other. Bruce Dern (a cab driver) and Barbara Harris (a flakey, phony psychic) are trying to bilk an old lady out of 10,000 dollars. Meanwhile, William Devane and Karen Black are deadly jewel thieves. Dern' discovery of a phony gravestone, accidentally puts him in danger (without his knowledge). Devane and his female partner decide to waste the couple, but this actually works to the advantage of the lightweights. While there wasn't the great suspense here and a bevy of unique scenes, it still kept my interest to the end.

SnoopyStyle Fake psychic Madam Blanche Tyler (Barbara Harris) and her taxi driving boyfriend George Lumley (Bruce Dern) track down the long lost nephew of wealthy elderly heiress Julia Rainbird. She promises them a large sum believing Madam Tyler to be legitimate.Meanwhile, jeweler collector Arthur Adamson (William Devane) and girlfriend Fran (Karen Black) kidnap wealthy people to ransom for diamonds.This is Alfred Hitchcock's final film. He was quite ill and in his 70s. His skills are somewhat dated like the driving scenes. The pacing is quite slow early on. Once the two couples' paths intersect, the story gets much more compelling. The tension picks right up. Hitchcock injects some slapstick with the flaky Barbara Harris. I didn't laugh but it's cute to see Hitchcock try. This is not his best work, but it's still a fascinating watch.

TheLittleSongbird It is nice to see that Family Plot is getting more recognition other than being the swan-song of one of the most influential directors in cinema. Despite Hitchcock being my favourite director, I wasn't sure whether I would like Family Plot after hearing from people, both on IMDb and outside, that it was one of his weakest. I'm glad I did see it(and I would have done anyway) because while it is not among Hitch's best(Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, Rebecca) it is nowhere near one of his weakest(Jamaica Inn, Under Capricorn, Topaz, The Paradine Case). True, the film is a little long, the story is convoluted and a few scenes are incoherent as a result and Karen Black's character could have been much more developed. Family Plot does look good though(if not one of his best-looking films like Vertigo, To Catch a Thief and The Trouble with Harry), both audacious and gritty and the photography services these very well. John Williams' score is jaunty and haunting, and sensibly more restrained than some of the bombast of his very best scores.The dialogue has strong bouts of fun and tension with good interplay between the cast, the humour though is more a subtle blend rather than busting-your-gut every minute. There is also a lot of innuendo that surprises you at how much the film gets away with. The story is convoluted but still intriguing and doesn't feel dull, there is still a good amount of mystery and tension amongst the fun. The sequence with the car out of control was the film's most memorable one, and it seemed that Hitchcock was paying homage here to all his previous work(ie. the attempted murder with the neck-tie almost reminiscent of Frenzy, to me anyway). Hitchcock's directing was taut and sly, I didn't detect any evidence that he didn't have his heart in it, yes maybe Dern and Harris' characters are much more developed than those of Black and Devane's but I put that down to the writing too. The acting is fine, none of the four lead players give performances that rank among the best of any Hitchcock film but I didn't expect that. I don't think Bruce Dern and Barbara Harris have done better since, William Devane is very chilling and quite brutal and Karen Black seems to be having fun despite her character not being as developed well as the rest.In conclusion, a good swan-song, and while not among the Master of Suspense's best I do think it gets a bad rap for either the viewer having too high expectations, or that it was a noble but failed attempt at doing something different or bad timing in a decade of disaster movies and with the likes of Spielberg, DeNiro and Pacino(I personally think it's a bit of all). And of course there'll be people who didn't care for it, and that's understandable, as while I did really enjoy Family Plot I can definitely see why people will find fault with it. 7.5/10 Bethany Cox

pesic-1 I enjoyed this film very much. Interestingly enough, I never would have guessed Hitchcock directed it.The problem with the film is that too much emphasis is on the convoluted plot and too little on the characters. While the protagonists are likable, more time should have been devoted to fleshing out their characters. As for the antagonists, they are somewhat difficult to relate to because while they are very likable the character of Shoebridge is also supposed to be sinister. This results in an ambiguity of his character and ends up confusing the audience. At the end of the film one does not know whether to cheer or boo when the antagonists are finally trapped. At the same time, the lack of development of the protagonists diminishes the satisfaction of their triumph.I can't give it more than 6/10, but I have to reiterate that I do find the film quite enjoyable.