Rating: 
Summary: The Moose Hole - 'Photo' Produces Less Negatives
Review: The end of Summer 2002 seems to be following the trend of all past summers by offering so many choices to the movie-going public that don't really appeal to anyone in particular. This comes as no surprise since it is a well known fact that the studios dump their worst films in this time period but get big name stars to try and get some profit from the flicks. Perfect examples in the summer of 2002 would have to be Serving Sara, with Elizabeth Hurley and Matthew Perry, and S1m0ne, featuring Al Pacino, with both failing to find an audience. Another genre that is explored greatly at this time is horror but they don't always succeed even with small budgets like Feardot.com proved. Those are reasons why at this time in the year independent films come out in full force and show to Hollywood that you don't need big budgets to make a successful film. Among these is the film that critics have been raving about since its debut at the Sundance Film Festival, One Hour Photo. Robin Williams, the star of the independent flick, is the main draw as no other star has really drawn any recognition before like him. The year 2002 since to be the transition year for Williams to move from the happy go-lucky characters, he is best known for, to more dramatic roles. But does Williams' creepy performance deliver the goods or is the film underdeveloped? The story of One Hour Photo focuses on a family and a lonely Savmart photo clerk. Seymour Parish, or Sy the Photo Guy as he is known to some of the regular customers, is the photo manager of the local Savmart who has worked there day in and day out for the past eleven years with little if any problems. In those long years, Sy becomes attached to a family that regularly comes to the Savmart and drops off their family photos to be developed. Without a loving family of his own, Sy becomes very attached to the family and "adopts" himself into the Yorkin family even becoming a sort of "uncle" to the son, Jack Yorkin, who lives a so-called happy life with his mother and workaholic father. This attachment soon turns in obsession as he follows the mother, Nina, around and pretends to meet her by coincidence in the mall. He evens buys presents for Jack and visits his soccer games. Things begin to spiral out of control after Sy is fired from Savmart for wasting prints by copying the Yorkin family pictures for himself. Sy soon loses control once he learns the dark secret of the father, Will Yorkin. The great thing about the story for One Hour Photo is that it sticks strongly the destructive path of Sy the Photo Guy and doesn't veer off that track very much. But when it does veer off from time to time, it is usually just a dream sequence or some small scene that doesn't last for too long. The intensity of the plot makes the film a great edge of your seat thriller and doesn't become too much for the audience it is intended for. The cast of One Hour Photo is very well put together and present an outside view of what a normal family looks like which, in the end, reveals that nothing is as it seems. Robin Williams, who takes the role of Sy the Photo Guy, presents his best and most creepy performance of his career. Williams, who also starred in the dramatic Insomnia, really tries hard to fit into the role of Sy by giving a familiar charming look to the character, complete with loose glasses, white shirt and creepy smile, that makes the character all the more chilling. Not only is his performance well done but Williams' chilling narrative in portions of the presentation is also very stirring. Connie Nielsen and Michael Vartan are perfect choices as the "perfect" couple of Nina and Will Yorkin. They each present brilliant performances that don't draw attention away from the real story of Sy Parrish. The only problem that can be seen within the cast would have to be Gary Cole who plays Jack Yorkin, the family's son. The character came off as being too cute and, as his mother put it, "too sensitive", though his performance was better then most child actors. Overall, One Hour Photo delivers more positives then negatives by the end of the feature film. The biggest highlight of the film has to be the brilliant and creepy performance given by Robin Williams as the photo clerk of Savmart. Williams will surely be the biggest draw and that is probably what Fox Searchlight is counting on. The story is very well done but some things that are thrown at the audience are a bit too much. One example would have to be a dream sequence involving Sy and blood from his eyes. The only other problem with the film would have to be the annoying performance of Gary Cole but luckily he isn't seen too much within the course of the film. One Hour Photo delivers what it was meant to which is a dark dramatic look at the so-called "picture-perfect" life of the modern nuclear family. If Hollywood hasn't gotten the hint after the indie-hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding then they should definitely hear it from One Hour Photo. The message is this: Good performances and better stories mean more then big name stars and loud special effects. Hopefully they will listen this time around.
Rating:
Summary: PHOTOPSYCHOTIC
Review: "One Hour Photo" isn't as creepy and sordid as I expected. Robin Williams as a sex criminal didn't sound like my idea of a good time, but the film is really just a good suspense thriller despite it's lurid, pathetic lead character, a photograph developer who psychotically fantasizes about a young family whose pictures he develops. Cinematography is often as vulnerable and crisp as a color photo and the direction is taut, with the exception of the blindfold over the viewer's eyes concerning the outcome of the climactic scene. "One Hour Photo" is not the nightmare I was expecting but is a very good suspense thriller.
Rating: 
Summary: Williams' performance doesn't salvage it..
Review: With "Insomnia" in particular but also with "One hour Photo" R.Williams proves that he's got way more depth as an actor than previously attributed to, in fact that he's been pointlessly trapping himself in "feel good" silly comedies.
In this film, Williams plays the silent, calculating stalker-psycho convincingly but, unfortunately for him, the rest of the script doesn't work with him and the whole film is a rather slow dragging affair that tries to be something but winds up being not much.
But first things first:
the plot is about Sy the "guy who works in the photo shop" who develops an increasingly scary obsession with the family of one of his customers. His empty humdrum life begins to find a meaning as in his fantasies he sees himself belonging...But where he attaches "belonging" is indeed where he doesnt belong into as he pictures himself as a secret uncle of that family.
When he finds out that the husband of that family has turned unfaithful to his wife he decides it's time to take measures.
Predictably, those measures carry the psychotic touches that have been taking over him and the results are...somewhat ugly. With such a setting (the idea is on its own scary and actually does drive the film automatically in certain points) and with Williams in very convincing form and in a role that seems to be a perfect cast "One hour Photo" should've been gone down as a classic in the genre.
But it doesn't. It doesn't because the rest of the characters are underdeveloped at best, and the pace of the film doesn't keep you envolved enough to bother.
What "One hour Photo" tries to be is indeed a slow paced psychologigal thriller but even as such it simply doesn't cut it.
Most of the time the film becomes intimidating in one's mind because you can easily picture what could happen "if" but in the film itself this "if" hardly takes a horror form.
Basically the one who has failed here is the script writer who loses the reigns in pace and in engagement. Not a bad choice for a night in and a stash of DVDs to watch but dont expect this film to make scars of terror in your cerebrum...
Rating:
Summary: more reason to buy a digital camera
Review: This movie gave me the creeps. Brillantly acted, it silently weedles into your psyche. Unca'Sy the photo guy is a very sick man. You feel both sorry for him and a bit scared at the same time. This movie explores surprising motives of a stalker. Just what is he capable of doing and to whom? Bravo Robin Williams, you won't get the credit you deserve for this one.
Rating:
Summary: CREEPY AND WIERD
Review: What a weird film. Robin Williams(MORK from ORK) is a lonely old man. He is a perfectionist at his photo job which not only rules his days but also his life. You see, he begins to become (in his mind) part of a lovely family that brings photos in. Soon he becomes protective of them like a fierce dog protects her pups. When he finds out the husband is cheating on the wife he erupts like a volcano and bends the people in the family to his will. He forces the husband and girlfriend to do unspeakable acts while he waves a huge knife around thier bare flesh. As the unwilling couple covort naked on the bed, in the background you see Williams face twisted in knots with hate. The huge knife he carries shinning brightly in thier eyes. Williams is a sweating mound of despair as he flees police and himself when the film hurtles toward the unyielding climax.
Rating:
Summary: Creepy Uncle Sy
Review: Mork, how you have changed! From inane slapstick to skin-crawling revulsion, I gotta hand it to you, Mork: you're showing some range in your golden years. And ONE HOUR PHOTO successfully pegs the "Goose Bumps" meter, similar to finding a worm in your cupcake or going to church not knowing your fly is unzipped. Shudder. Photo developer Sy Parrish (Mork, er, Robin Williams) is the quintessential human ticking time bomb. Lonely, depressed, insecure, he has no life other than his job at SavMart and his obsession with a yuppie family--an obsession that literally covers a wall of his shabby apartment with photographs of the handsome couple and their young son. Sy wishes--initially--no harm on the family; he merely longs to be a part of their lives, to be embraced as "Uncle Sy." But his obsession, alas, cannot translate into reality, and when Sy suffers a career setback and then discovers a flaw in his beloved family, the mental choo-choo derails in a hurry. The ending is atypical of psycho thrillers, and pushes Williams' disturbed character even more into the forefront. The scrumptious Connie Nielsen is dynamite as Nina Yorkin, the unsuspecting victim of Sy's dysfunctional stalking; director Mark Romanek moves the story along with all the eery discomfort of scraping fingernails across a blackboard. ONE HOUR PHOTO is a bona fide seat-squirmer, a scratch 'n sniff gag fest. Mork, you've impressed me with your creepiness, but can you have this film developed by 5:00?
--D. Mikels
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant New Take on the "Stalker" Genre!
Review: "One Hour Photo" is a refreshing work of directory and acting genius. It takes a new, and much more realistic twist on the stalker genre. Meant to be more of a drama than a thriller, it actively does the work of both. It is a slow-paced, heart-wrenching movie because although the main character is silent as a ghost most of the time, you always know why - and that's what makes his character so appealing. You can't help but feel sorry for him. Seymour Parish, better known as "Sy the Photo Guy" is a photo-technician at a local SavMart. He takes his work seriously and genuinely likes his job. He knows his customers well and they don't have to tell him they want. One particular family whose photos he has been developing for many years, the Yorkins, he considers a perfect family. Having no family or friends of his own, he longs to become a part of their lives, and for them to be a part of his. He lives alone in a dreary apartment in the middle of downtown, where his obsession with this family has taken a hold of his mind. However, unlike stalkers such as Michael, Chucky, or Jason, Sy is a kind, decent man with good intentions at heart. He doesn't want to harm the family in any way - he actually cares about them and wants to be with them. However, his social awkwardness prevents him from getting to know the family beyond a professional basis, and it makes him more and more unstable and frustrated. Everything in this film is outstanding - particularly the score - which, despite its electronic origins, is quite suitable. The sounds used in a few scenes (particularly the scene in Sy's apartment) give a very good backdrop to the feelings torturing Sy's mind. And contrary to what some may say, this is ANYTHING but techno. Quite the opposite, in fact. It reminds me more of slow ambiance. One way or the other, most or all of it is keyboarded, and it's excellent. This film is abundant in imagery and symbolism. Most of the seemingly filler scenes have hidden meaning which, when uncovered, will reveal more and more about Sy's troubled psyche. Despite what some may say, I think the ending is very good. This is not meant to be a horror movie or a thriller movie, so I think it added to that differentiation by ending it on a pleasant note. Having Sy end the movie the same way he began it would have been heartbreaking, since Sy never has evil intentions. All in all, a chill inducing, disturbing movie that earns a straight 6 out 5! Highly recommended for people who are tired of the same old mindless crap that fills our theaters all too often.
Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Messes with your head
Review: This movie, I guarantee you, will be one of the best psychological thrillers you'll see. It really messes with your mind and makes you think. The movie's creepy because you get so involved into the story and get sucked into the twisted fantasies of the main character. Simply put... any movie that makes you have to see it a couple of times is a good movie. Though I don't see why it was rated R. A strong PG-13 maybe. Sy Parrish is well developed, and even though he's a psycho you can't help but feel sorry for him. He's comical...yet insane...yet depressing. He keeps things interesting and is played very well by Robin Williams. This movie shows us that Robin Williams is an excellent actor and that he can do more than just Mickey Mouse movies. Because of my strange sense of humor I thought the movie was funny at times, but I would still suggest watching a happy movie after viewing this. It WILL freak you out.
Rating:
Summary: Creeeeeeeepy!
Review: I am at best an indifferent Robin Williams fan when it comes to his movies. I admit I like some of his stuff, like "The World According to Garp," "The Dead Poets Society," and, although I will deny it if asked directly, "Toys." But far too often, the frenetic comedian's films leave me feeling slightly nauseated. When a loved one wanted to watch "One Hour Photo" with me, I inwardly scoffed. I really haven't watched anything from Williams in some time, but I figured it would be extremely rude to ignore yet again my significant other's cinematic choice for the evening. Fortunately, she finally picked something I could get into. "One Hour Photo" is definitely not your normal Robin William's fare. The comedian, who has been looking to break out of his comedy straitjacket for years, really delivers the goods with this creepy yarn about an obsessive retail employee stalking a young family. William's performance here is so good that you wonder why he hasn't tried something this daring before. Gone is the performer's spastic, eardrum shattering personality so often seen when he appears on a talk show or in a stand up concert. Instead, we see a subdued, angry Robin Williams capable of inducing nightmares. Williams plays Seymour "Sy" Parrish, a lonely, middle-aged photo shop employee who has nothing in his life except the job. He is a one-hour photo development guy who works at one of those big chain department stores that sit on every other street corner across the country. One benefit of Sy's job is that he gets to know many of his customers on a first name basis, which for him constitutes his only interaction with other human beings. Parrish isn't married, doesn't have children or friends, and lives a rather bleak existence in a dim apartment. He doesn't have anything really except the copies of other people's pictures he clandestinely steals from the photo department. Parrish's favorite photos are from the Yorkin family: consisting of mother Nina, father Will, and son Jake. Nina and Jake have been coming into the photo lab for years to get their pictures developed, and Sy has taken quite a shine to them. Jake even refers to Parrish as "Sy, the photo guy," a moniker Seymour takes as quite a compliment. Heck, after awhile he even feels like part of the family, so much so that he covers one whole wall of his apartment with stolen pictures of the Yorkins. If Sy cannot live with his adopted family, at least he can bring them into his own house and relive the family's most precious moments. The Yorkins look like the perfect little family on paper, and it isn't too long before Sy starts to step over the line. He "accidentally" runs into Nina Yorkin at the mall where the two engage in small talk, which, although meaning little to Nina, means the world to Sy. Then Jake "accidentally" runs across Parrish one day after school, when the photo guy just happens to bring the child a gift. Parrish's world becomes inseparable from the Yorkin's lives, to the point that he begins following them around every chance he gets. Sy has plenty of spare time on his hands because he loses his job at the photo mart after his boss fires him for stealing pictures. The loss of the job is devastating, but even more destructive to Parrish's fragile mental state is the sudden discovery of imperfection in the "perfect" Yorkin household. Nina and Will have problems, specifically over Jake and the father's inability to connect with his son. One problem leads to many more when Will Yorkin decides to take a dangerous step outside of his marriage and Sy Parrish is there to teach the sort of lesson no one could ever forget. The conclusion is a shocker because it takes a different approach from the usual stalker/obsessive person film. I liked "One Hour Photo." Obviously, William's take on a guy who snaps psychologically is radically different from many of his other film roles. Sy Parrish is creepy and disconnected, and Williams successfully reveals to us the inner turmoil felt by this individual. Just as neat was the chain store where Sy worked. The place is so sterile, bright, and obsessively organized that I loved looking at the place whenever they showed it. Parrish's apartment with the hundreds of pictures on the wall gives you the chills when you see it, especially later when Sy goes on his rampage and the police find the pictures with Will Yorkin's face scratched out on every single snapshot. The best scene in the film was when we see Sy snooping around the Yorkin house and the family suddenly arrives home just in time to see...well, it's best that you watch the movie yourself to discover how this scene plays out. "One Hour Photo" has some unforgettable moments. The few problems with the movie have little to do with the DVD release, which boasts a Charlie Rose interview with Williams, some behind the scenes stuff, and an interesting menu screen. After watching the "Anatomy of a Scene" featurette on the disc, I realized that some of the messages the makers of "One Hour Photo" attempted to pass on to the viewer didn't exactly work. The scene in question involved Sy's first meeting with Will Yorkin in the department store. The director goes on and on about how the store represents a type of heaven to Parrish and how he proves his power over Yorkin by summoning help on the store intercom. I must have missed that when I watched the movie and I am not sure many viewers perceived that scene, or others, as the producers intended. Despite that, this movie is a must see for Robin Williams fans and a should see for all others.
Rating:
Summary: Not Robin.
Review: This film is a disturbing look at a loner photo development guy that mentally adopts himself into an unsuspecting family. The foreboding nature of the obsession explodes into reality when Sy the Photo Guy discovers that the father in his adopted family is having an affair with another of his customers. The character was such a complete reversal of the normal roles that Robin Williams fills as to make it difficult to digest. Not that Robin didn't do a heck of a job with the portrayal -- very convincing; it's just hard to see Mork, Patch or the inventor of Flubber doing this type of a character. Overall, the movie goes over well until the ending -- way too blunt and unresolved.
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