Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Lollivan 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.

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

harryk-65258 If you want to know a little bit about the sorry state of American society, please scroll through some of the reviews of this film...We are a humorless people that need to analyze and meta-critic everything...High Anxiety is classic Mel Brooks...is it as good as Young Frankenstein or Blazing Saddles? No, but its high culture compared to what stands for the contemporary Hollywood comedy, and Brooks demanded a little bit from the audience, especially in terms of intelligence...anyway, it's a great flick with a variety of hilarious performances, especially from Cloris Leachman, Madeline Kahn and Harvey Korman...well worth the time.

Irishchatter I honestly didn't see why Mel Brooks deciding to take the risk of taking the Mickey out of Hitchcock films! I really didn't think any of the jokes were funny. I only thought the first gag at the beginning of the film, your man brings Mel to the men's bathroom and the man stripped off his clothes. That was gold but the rest of them, so not funny and yet irritating!It would've been better if Mel Brooks just made the story line more interesting and stop concentrating too much on Hitchcock films. I really have nothing more to say but this film has giving me high anxiety in a bad way. Very disappointed, I was so looking forward to Brooks taking the p*ss out of Hitchcock films :/

MissSimonetta Honestly, this movie isn't that great. Mel Brooks was never much of a leading man and the role of the nervous psychiatrist would have been better suited to Gene Wilder. The plot is too loose for its own good, the direction is dull, and some of the comedic routines are annoying rather than side-splitting.What saves this movie is the supporting cast, mainly Harvey Korman and Cloris Leachman. I chuckled at most of the film, but laughed myself senseless whenever they came on the screen. The scene where she has him tied up in the closet had me and my sisters in stitches for several minutes afterward. Howard Morris is great too as Professor Lilloman, and I really wish he had been given more to do.The only weak spots in the supporting cast are Ron Carey as Brooks' sidekick and Madeline Kahn as the Hitchcock blonde character, Victoria. Carey is just unfunny, though I blame the writing more than the actor. Kahn is usually amazing, but she is wasted in a part that doesn't let her do anything outside of spouting exposition.Overall, you'll have more regard for the parts than the whole.

Scott LeBrun Mel Brooks's "High Anxiety" isn't on the level of his masterpieces "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein" but still works nicely as an affectionate spoof of the films of suspense master Alfred Hitchcock. Working in references to "Vertigo", "Psycho", "The Birds", and "North by Northwest", among other classics, it stars Brooks himself as eminent doctor Richard Thorndyke, who's just been hired as the new director of the Psycho Neurotic Institute for the Very VERY Nervous. He eventually gets wind of a dastardly plot engineered by institute staff, including hideous Nurse Diesel (a priceless Cloris Leachman) and weaselly Dr. Charles Montague (Harvey Korman). Fortunately, he has loyal chauffeur / sidekick Brophy (Ron Carey) and lovely Victoria Brisbane (Madeline Kahn, looking quite fetching in a long blonde wig) on his side, as he seeks to discover the fate of Victoria's father Arthur. "High Anxiety" is best described as the kind of movie that has moments; it does indeed have some great comedy set pieces, but others don't work quite as well. It's probably best appreciated by Hitchcock aficionados, who will delight in the references to Hitch's work. Mel, who co-wrote and produced as well, is fun to watch, with the supporting cast (also featuring Howard Morris, Dick Van Patten, Jack Riley, Charlie Callas, Murphy Dunne, and Robert Ridgely) truly getting into the spirit of the thing. Buffs will be pleased to note that that's legendary artist Albert J. Whitlock, who'd actually worked with Hitch, playing the role of Arthur Brisbane, and that future director Barry Levinson ("Diner", "Rain Man"), also one of the writers, plays the lazy, complaining hotel bellboy. Mel further entertains us by belting out the title ditty, which he also composed, and comes up with some genuinely laugh inducing gags. For one thing, we're always made well aware we're watching a movie, as cameras crash into windows and the characters on screen actually take notice of the music score. (Mel upon exiting an airport, at which point the score abruptly cuts off: "What a dramatic airport!") Mel and Madeline also make a wonderful pair and do a great routine at an another airport late in the film. Of all the spoofing done in the film, the jokes relating to "The Birds" are this viewers' personal favourite. Highly recommended to fans of both Hitch and Mel, this begins and ends brightly, and remains likable throughout. Seven out of 10.