Movie Review: One Hour Photo

One Hour Photo

With Robin Williams in a starring role and a plot having the potential to be nail-bitingly good, One Hour Photo has been both hyped and much anticipated. Unfortunately, it falls sadly short on many levels.

In One Hour Photo, Robin Williams plays Seymour (Sy) Parrish, a long-time clerk at the one-hour photo counter of a SavMart store. Williams, who has no family and is utterly friendless outside of work, fantasizes that he is a member of the family of one of his customers. Nina Yorkin (Connie Nielsen) has no idea that Sy considers her more than a loyal shopper as she regularly brings pictures to be developed. With every roll of film, Sy receives an intimate portrait of her growing son, Jake (Dylan Smith), her corporate bigwig husband, Will (Michael Vartan), and the happy life the three of them apparently lead together. Eventually, Sy's obsession grows out of control, and Nina is forced to deal with it at the same time she is also handling a personal crisis.

Robin Williams, who is a brilliant comedian, must have some kind of a switch inside his mercurial personality that allows him to play characters utterly unlike himself and with the darkest of overtones. He played a villain in Insomnia earlier this year and gave a creditable performance. As Sy Parrish, however, Williams is astounding. Sy's pain and confusion, along with his eagerness to please, are readily apparently in Williams' body language alone. Though Sy is a frightening character, he is also pitiable. Williams' performance walks the knife's edge between the two extremes flawlessly, and makes his audience afraid and sympathetic almost at once,

The rest of the cast is adequate, including Gary Colemen (perhaps best known for his portrayal of Mike Brady in the Brady Bunch movie franchise) who plays a store manager. Eriq LaSalle, as Detective Van Der Beek, proves once and for all that the entire depth and breadth of his talent consist of his persistent wide-eyed-furrowed-brow expression, no mater the lines he speaks or the situation he's supposed to pretend he's in. Even he can be ignored, however, when Williams is on screen.

The plot of One Hour Photo is brilliant. The script, however, takes a great idea and all but ruins it. People say things in this movie that people would just never say, and the interaction between many characters is stilted and unnatural as a result. The editing - again, something which could add to the suspense and bizarre goings-on - is poorly done, including some ham-handed fades to black when all else apparently fails. And although the set decoration may have been meant to be surreal, I doubt it. Either way, it's badly done.

If you're interested in sitting through a bad movie for a stellar performance, One Hour Photo may be for you. Otherwise, you might prefer to skip this one.

NOTE FOR FREEDOM FIGHTERS: If you like your privacy, buy a digital camera.

FAMILY SUITABILITY: One Hour Photo is rated R. Although there is only one graphically bloody moment, and one graphically sexual scene, the subject matter throughout is such that I wouldn't recommend this movie for anyone under 18.