To me, this movie is perfection.

the audience applauded

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The best part of Hitchcock's final production is probably Barbara Harris's borderline character whose seemingly fruitless endeavors get entangled with a much less believable subplot without which the story, however, wouldn't have been the least suspenseful.The direction is overall decent with certain typical Hitchcock scenes such as a car race reminiscent of those in Suspicion and North by Northwest.Enjoyable if one disregards a number of rather apparent plot holes.And as usual with respect to the Master's pictures, I stop to wonder for a while whether there's a MacGuffin present or not...

Family Plot is definitely most famous for one thing. And that is that it was legendary director Alfred Hitchcock's last movie. It isn't generally considered amongst his better films; in fact many outright dislike it. For me, while I agree it's uneven, I find it very enjoyable and not such a bad way for the great man to bow out all things considered. It's about a con artist couple trying to get rich by means of having the woman pretend to be a psychic. Through this they are offered $10,000 by a rich elderly woman if they can find the son she put up for adoption forty years before. Their inquiries into the mystery put them on a dangerous path.You could say that this is a film about two crooked couples - the good-bad couple and the bad-bad one. The paths of both ultimately collide through fate and I suppose we are invited to compare both. The con artists are played by Bruce Dern and Barbara Harris, while the kidnappers are William Devane and Karen Black. All are good in their respective roles. As for Hitch himself, well it's not one of his most inventive films with not too many moments typical of him; although the introduction of the Karen Black character is very well done. Replete in blonde wig, shades and clad head to toe in leather, she looks very striking, she first appears when she steps out of the dark and is almost run over by Dern, thereby neatly inter-linking both strands of the story early on.If there is a clear weakness in the film, it's most probably that it cannot maintain both strands of the story without sacrificing the mystery element. For this reason, it's better earlier on. For the remainder of the movie Dern and Harris try to uncover what is going on but seeing as the audience know already it doesn't have much of an impact. I wonder if they had played up the mystery more, then this could have been a better film over all. But no matter because it still basically works. It essentially is a comedy-thriller. Sometimes combining both genres in one scene, for instance the sequence where a car with no brakes is hurtling down a mountain road. In this example, though, the combination of comedy and thrills doesn't entirely work because it's an exciting scene that is somewhat marred by Barbara Harris ridiculous comedy acting. In the main though, the comedy and suspense are kept apart which works far better. You could probably argue, however, that maybe the thriller side of the story doesn't go as far as it could. For example, the ending is very rushed and could have probably been thought out better. But, minor issues aside, I like this one.

The only thing that has a touch of Hitch in this, His last Movie, is the Tone. The Master Visualist is nowhere to be seen. The Film looks like most from the Seventies, flat and washed out. Yes, there is the Dry Wit and some Whimsy, but most things here are uninspired and at worst Dull.First, the casting of Bruce Dern, a delightfully demented Character Actor, can not stretch it enough to be a Leading Man, even if said Man is a bit of a Flake. He is just too odd looking to be a constant quest as a Sex Object. Second, the investigation part is so talky and bland that it brings the Movie to a halt early on.It isn't a Bad Movie and the intertwining Story of the two Grifter Couples is intriguing enough, but the whole thing just lies there with an occasional spark of Excellence to prop things up and move it along.However, there isn't enough to maintain its length and although there are some Fun Bits, it really is nothing more than an Entertaining, Puff Piece done by a Talent suffering from Health Issues and the Film seems like a bit of a struggle.Worth a look and has enough going for it to make it rewarding, but is among the Hitchcock lower tier and while not a Failure it is a hardly a Grand Success. Truth be told, Alfred Hitchcock never made an Awful Movie and has one of the best Won-Loss Records in Directorial History.

This was Hitchcocks last movie. He was very ill on set, and he did well to finish this. There are more "sexual innuendo" lines than in any of his other movies. Perhaps he was telling us.......I do have a naughty side and a sense of humour. Bruce Dern and Karen Black are pretty good and the pace is always fast. This last Hitchcock film was not well received (particularly in America). One of the reasons was Alfreds VERY English & naughty sense of humour. There are vast differences between American humour and British humour. Hitchcock finished his great career ..............with one for the Brits. Well done Alfred.....we all know American humour is....ummmm not at all funny.