All the subtlety and detail imbued in this screenplay matters little when it is lost in tentative and banal acting. Comedy is particularly satisfying when it deals with the shortcomings of human nature, not when it denies natural emotions and intellect as this story does so inexcusably. This could have been good, had the story adhered to a few requirements for good storytelling. First, develop characters so that I care about them. Second, in all good fiction, always tell the "truth"; that is to say, the story must be believable. Third, do not appall the audience with lackluster, passionless actors who mete out stilted lines and gestures. I think this movie could have been twice as effective had Hitchcock used cardboard cutouts of the actors with stop-motion animation.