Verdict:
This film has two relatively major flaws, both story related.
The first issue is that right in the beginning of the film, and then later once again, it smears on you a sudden thick layer of awkwardly placed exposition, like some cheap Japanese anime. This should not be a thing in a professional piece of work like this.
The second issue is that, as with many Hitchcock’s movies, the story relies on one of the characters being an idiot in order to work. The premise is that a detective affected by vertigo is asked by his old pal to solve a mystery surrounding this friend’s wife’s strange behaviour and, as you watch the events play out it becomes apparent fairly quickly that the main character is being played. It is obvious, and it should be particularly obvious to a detective, but the movie pretends like it is not.
And so, you find yourself mentally trying to hurry the movie up. “Yes, I get it, the main character is obsessed and is being played. Come on, get to it already, get to the reveal. It’s obvious. Come on.” As the movie was drawing out the inevitable, the famous Hitchcockian tension was starting to wear out its welcome, as the dialogue and the music were getting increasingly teary-eyed.
And then, at around the 1:40 mark the story takes a nosedive. Instead of revealing the truth at the end, the film spills the beans right then by means of a second blunt exposition pour, where the main twist of the film is simply shown to the audience in a flashback and then explained through the thoughts of one of the characters. Look, movie, I know I was mentally hurrying you up, but I did not mean for you to prematurely unload yourself in the most unsatisfactory manner. What a letdown!
The very ending is a bit problematic as well. It feels like the writer did not know for sure what to do with the two main characters after all the cards were revealed. The way the story concludes, feels odd and rushed.
It is a real shame because the performances are good. The main character played by James Stewart is charming. The tension is there. There are some special effects used, including animation, which looked cool. Even the premise is quite interesting at face value, but the execution is unfortunately also very noticeably flawed.