Terrible, terrible, terrible

Rating: 3/10 (15 February 2016)

"Terrible" is the word that comes to mind to describe this movie.
The overall plot and interaction between characters is so implausible that at one point I began laughing at how bizarre it became.
The main character (Scottie) is a retired police detective/former lawyer. He comes off as a gigantic dimwit. Clueless throughout the entire film, clumsy, unsure of himself and completely gullible. He doesn't act, talk or carry himself like you would expect someone playing the role of "clever detective" to. It would have made much more sense to cast him as something more mundane like a professor or accountant. At least then it would give credence to the irrational decisions you wouldn't expect a detective/lawyer to be making. Of course, the reason for this character's profession was to give reason for his friend's request he act as a private investigator (which could have been just as plausible with any profession, in my opinion).
For example, if you're going to covertly tail someone you probably shouldn't stand 3 feet behind them staring at their hair.
The script was rushed and I agree with criticisms that Hitchcock did so to fit it within 2 hours. For example, Scottie falls in love with Madeleine even though he's met her only several times. We're supposed to believe he's truly in love with her but from my perspective he comes off as a guy with a hard-on for a hot blond. Even the most desperate romantics would be wary of a woman exhibiting psychotic behavior that you don't even know that well, right? I also think if the viewer is expected to care about Scottie's despair/struggles, they probably shouldn't have made him what most today would be considered a home wrecker. There wasn't even an "oh gee, I feel kind of bad for starting an affair with a married woman, let alone married to one of my friends".
The acting is over the top. I thought "Midge" delivered the best performance but unfortunately her role served almost no purpose to the overall plot.
The facial expressions became an annoyance. It was almost insulting that the viewer can't be expected to notice something without doing close up shots followed by Scottie's overly exaggerated eye-squinting and head cocking.
This was all set to the most annoying part of the film: suspenseful violin music. It was like a 5 minute track set on loop for the whole film.
Overall, I was just purely disappointed. The plot didn't make sense. The script was over the top. The acting was terrible. I couldn't find much about this film I found entertaining.