Rating: 
Summary: Riveting psychological drama
Review: Sy Parrish has no life,so he adopts that of a family of customers
who bring their photographs for developing to the store where he works. Their seemingly happy family life is in complete contrast to his own lonely, stark existence. His apartment is symbolically white with very little furniture or decorations other than the hundreds of photos he has taken of the Yorkin family and put up on his wall. He gently insinuates himself into the Yorkins' life by attending the son's soccer practice and striking up a conversation with the wife at a fast food restaurant. Things come to a head when Sy discovers that all is not well in the Yorkin home and he sets out to extract revenge from an unfaithful family member. Robin Williams' performance is wonderful, down to the last detail and he draws the viewer into the ever-deepening abyss of his gentle madness. The photography, imagery, music, and set design all contribute to an engrossing viewing experience.
Rating: 
Summary: Bland, tepid
Review: Sounds great, but fails to deliver. Good spooky dream scene where Robin Williams' face does something very interesting, but the psychological impact of the movie is thin as we really know scant little about the main character, so we have no idea why he's got a wallful of pictures, complete with strobelights, of a family he is obsessed with. Normal lonely people don't do these things-sick, medication starved, chemical deficient folks do. I just don't get the point. Sexy Connie Nielsen doesn't even bother to take her clothes off. Why does the movie exist, then? Shock? Criticism? I'm open to ideas, but as for now, this movie isn't worth buying just to see Robin Williams take a malevolent turn.
Rating:
Summary: Misfires on too many details
Review: What did this film want to be? It's too dull to be a psychodrama and contains too many vauge cliches to be a melodrama. It misfires on too many details to produce a truly engaging picture.Every supposedly creepy scene is lathered with dark musical notes and tones directing us to feel icky. Robin Williams character (Sy) provides narration informs the audience of the obvious. The portrait painted of Sy is flimsy and one dimensional. Throughout the film, Robin Williams walks slowly and in a dilberate fashion as if he were wearing a leaky diaper. The portrait painted of the admired family (The Yorkins) is too shallow for us to really care about their experience. If this family seems so warm and inviting to Sy, how could they have been dropping off their film to him for the past 9 years and hardly know him. Mr. and Mrs. Yorkin come off as self absorbed yuppie hipsters who just happen to shop at the local supermart. We only take pictures of happy events and not depressing moments. By way of narration, Sy expresses his understanding of this. Yet Sy is supposed to believe in the perfection of the Yorkins family and ultimately cracks when reality of their unperfect existence is revealed. Okaaaay. Other crappy things happen to Sy to help push him over the edge and to help us feel bad for him. There is an inherent sadness to the lives of people who are truly alone. Sy's sad moments, however are morsels of a poorly crafted premise meant to spoonfeed us through a story about as intriguing as meatloaf.
Rating:
Summary: Snap-You're Dead!!!
Review: Robin Williams gives an impressive and stunning performance in this chilling story of a photo developer who becomes obsessed with a woman and her seemingly perfect family through the series of pictures he develops for them. "Sy" Perish, the "photo guy" seems like a nice enough man who takes extra care with the photos of the people who come to his counter. Unfortunately for Nina Yorkin (Connie Nielsn), her husband (Michael Vartan) and their son Jake (Dylan Smith), Sy is not who he appears to be. As Sy's life becomes lonelier and his obsession with the family grows, he convinces himself that he's part of their seemingly picture-perfect life. What happens next will leave your spine tingling. Directed by Mark Romanek, this edge-of-the-seat thriller is one of the best in recent years, refreshigly not going the Hollywood route with a conventional ending. The climax is shocking, disturbing, and extremely suspenseful and creepy. Sy Parish is a unique villian who manages to make you care for him despite the lives he successfully manages to destroy. Robin Williams is perfection in a rare film role for him. His supporting cast, which also includes Eric La Salle and Gary Cole, are also top-notch. You will never look at the One Hour Photo Shop the same way again. This is one thriller I definitely recommend.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Yes, Williams is great, but the movie falls short. I really wanted to see some depth, and was left with very little to sink my teeth into. You take a slasher flick, take out the violence, add an ambiguous ending, add great a perfomance and a few dream-like sequences and what do you get? A slasher flick with no violence, an ambiguos ending, a great performance and a few dream sequences. I'm not suggesting that they should have just made another slasher film, but you do not create something better than a slasher film simply by taking out the violence. They seemed to WANT to make art, but in the end they didn't really have anything to say. A comment on isolation, privacy, an idealized life? Umm.. not really. Looks great, Williams is superb, pointless.
Rating:
Summary: Good..but......
Review: This movie had the potential to be really good. Infact, after the first half-hour it was so creepy I felt like a had to take a shower. But we all knew how it was going to end and it was no big surprise. I would have loved to given this 5 stars but it was not that great. But it ws good. Robin Williams is better playing weird characters instead of "joke every 2 seconds" characters. Showing the ending scene at the begining gave a lot of it away. And him laying out the pictures at the end was totally lame. But I did like the way he [messed] with his boss' head. That was cool.
Rating:
Summary: Phenomenal Debut by Writer/Director Mark Romanek
Review: I've been a fan of Mark Romanek for his work in music videos, for which he won an MTV Video Vanguard award years ago, directing such vids as NIN's 'Closer' and 'The Perfect Drug', plus so many others, from Madonna, to a futuristic Michael and Janet Jackson vid, to Beck.
He furthermore proves his skills as a writer/director in this incredible picture, a Hitchcockian thriller that will leave you Spellbound.
Sy Parrish is a loner, and the only comfort he finds is in the family that he's developed pictures for, for almost ten years.
As he develops a relationship with this family, a 'surrogate' family for him, he finds himself falling more deeply obsessed with them. Then, the fateful day, he is fired from his job, at his 'Sav-Mart'...and plunges into utter chaos....
When he finds, on his last day on the job, that this 'picture perfect' family is not so perfect, he finds himself in a whirlwind of psychological chaos, almost like Michael Douglas in 'Falling Down', but in a much more subdued way...
I won't say more, for fear of 'giving away' the ending, but suffice it to say that this pic is visually stylistic, completely 'on the edge of your seat', and the ending will leave you thinking about it for days. It's not for everyone, I agree, but for someone who wants a thriller that has an unusual twist, plus visuals that will knock your socks off, this is the one...
Brilliant.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a Big Eough Payoff at the End. . . .
Review: Let me begin by saying that I really looked forward to seeing this movie, I'm a big fan of Robin Williams (despite his questionable, at best, choices of roles to play), and I really enjoyed the first 90+ minutes of this movie. I expected more at the end. A bigger payoff. A surprise. A complication. Something. It just kind of ended. Maybe I would have complained if it have been some kind of contrived, unrealistic fantastic conclusion, but I think the writer could have come up with something more. Maybe not.
Williams was spectacular--one of the creepiest performances in my recent movie-viewing history. The cinematography and costuming were excellent--great use of color (or the lack thereof) to symbolize the "ordinariness" of Sy's life. OK supporting roles--nobody spectacularly good or bad. The idea for the story and the plot itself are extremely creative and clever (the wall of pictures in Sy's house is one of the more disturbing non-violent images in recent memory, as well). It just doesn't come together well enough for me at the end, which cost it a five-star rating for me. The buildup to the climax was steady, logical, and progressive. Then it ends. . . . I don't mind a "head-scratcher," as long as it is for "thinking" reasons (i.e., MEMENTO, THE USUAL SUSPECTS, etc.)--everything doesn't have to be tied up in a thoughtless package with a pretty bow for me. With that much anticipation, though, the script writer needed to come up with an ending that is worthy of that anticipation. Maybe I'm just too much of an English teacher. . . .
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Film with a Terrific Performance by Williams.
Review: An lonely, middle-aged man by the name of Sy Parrish (Oscar-Winner:Robin Williams) has an Obession with a Family (Connie Nielsen, Micheal Vartan & Dylan Smith), which Sy has been developing thier Pictures for 10 Years at a local Shopping Mall. When Sy being to notice the family flaw, he's breaking down on them and he wants everything back the way, it was. Written & Directed by Mark Romanek made a strong, fascinating drama. Williams is Superb in this one of a kind film. You do feel sorry for Williams's Character in this film. There's a few flaws in the films & Romanek brings a sylish edge to the film, thanks to Cinematographer:Jeff Cronenweth (Fight Club). DVD's has an sharp anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) transfer & an strong-Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. DVD's has an Commentary Track by Romanek & Williams. Behind the Scenes featurettes & Trailers. Do not miss this Unusual film. Grade:A.
Rating:
Summary: A World made of pictures
Review: This is a film that, had it been handled with less originality and had the performances (especially Robin Williams') been less on target, would have been a mere genre picture; the kind where an obsessive nanny/babysitter/tenant/fill-in-the-blank terrorizes an unsuspecting family. One Hour Photo, however, goes quite beyond the cliches of such movies and deals in a fresh manner with topics such as the reasons people take pictures, the sterility of modern workplaces, loneliness and, of course, obsession. Robin Williams is not as miscast as you might think as the loner whose entire life revolves around the pictures he develops at SavMart's photo counter. In a much-needed departure from his usual sappy roles, Williams turns his kindly, naive personality an additional few degrees into madness. SavMart is perfectly conveyed as the generic modern shopping center, with endless aisles and an oppressive whiteness that pervades everything. The entire movie is filled with scenes of such vast, impersonal spaces; these images tell a story of their own, apart from (though not unrelated to) that of the characters. Williams plays Sy Parrish, who is is fixated upon a seemingly ideal family. When he takes pictures of them, he saves prints for himself. He covers the walls of his apartment with these photos. In the fantasy world he inhabits, Sy is an extended family member. Things fall apart for Sy when his boss discovers his transgression and fires him. At the same time, he makes a disconcerting discovery about a member of his adopted family. Sy's behavior as his delusionary world begins to crumble, though it is handled in an interesting and suspenseful way, is not really the point of this film. It is actually an inquiry into the elements that make up modern life and how fragile these can be.
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