Technically strong, great performances, but bland story and very weak ending

Rating: 6/10 (27 August 2005)

I was disappointed with this movie. For reference, I really liked Vertigo which delivered a really interesting story with great characters and direction.
In Rear Window, the characters are well defined and sharply delivered. My only quibble here is that it was virtually impossible to see why Lisa was interested in Jeff (other than some cliché about opposites attracting).
I understand that it was a nice study of various human behaviours and foibles, but that is not enough to make a great movie; it needs a plot, and the plot here was meandering and ultimately clichéd.
I was very entertained for the first half of the movie, especially with the interplay between the two leads; then I got tired of following the increasingly silly murder clues. Unfortunately it finishes with a completely unrealistic and overacted "confrontation", with some crude overused visual effects (long before CGI!), and worse, it confirms that the fairly dull and obvious conclusion that was reached very early on was in fact correct.
My reaction at the end was: Oh. Is that it? I wouldn't say the movie is boring, though it is rarely exciting and moves slowly.
I realise I am in the minority of IMDb voters (although oddly there is a little clump of less-than-glowing reviews at the very end of the review list on IMDb). But I do think that those who rate this as near movie perfection are probably over-emphasising Hitchcock's undoubted directorial skills and ignoring weaknesses in the story and delivery.