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Movies / On DVD / One Hour Photo
One Hour Photo

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One Hour Photo (2002)

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Reviews Counted:190

Fresh:155

Rotten:35

Average Rating:7.1/10

Consensus: Robin Williams is every effective in this creepy thriller.

Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Viewed through our photographs, it would seem we have lived a joyous, leisurely existence. Sy Parrish (Robin Williams), who makes this observation, adversely leads a lonely life, operating a photo... Viewed through our photographs, it would seem we have lived a joyous, leisurely existence. Sy Parrish (Robin Williams), who makes this observation, adversely leads a lonely life, operating a photo lab in a SavMart department store. He escapes his dreary reality through the family photos of Nancy Yorkin (Connie Nielsen) and her family. His admiration of the Yorkins becomes an obsession, as he fashions himself as Uncle Sy to little Jake (Dylan Smith). Sy's judgment becomes impaired by his unhealthy interest, causing him to lose his job of 11 years. As his final day approaches, Sy develops photographs revealing an indiscretion on the part of Mr. Yorkin (Michael Vartan). The unstable Sy now develops a disturbing, calculated plan to instill family values to the Yorkin clan. Much of ONE HOUR PHOTO takes place inside a department store similar to a Wal-Mart, bordered in an icy blue. This cold atmosphere creates a solitary framework for the disturbed photo developer Sy Parrish, played with a melancholic detachment by Williams, working here against type. Director Mark Romanek (STATIC) has created a thriller with little violence. Instead, it is permeated with an uncomfortable fear emanating from its damaged protagonist. [More]

Starring: Robin Williams, Connie Nielsen, Michael Vartan, Gary Cole

Starring: Robin Williams, Connie Nielsen, Michael Vartan, Gary Cole, Eriq La Salle, Dylan Smith, Nick Searcy

Director: Mark Romanek

Director: Mark Romanek
Screenwriter: Mark Romanek
Producer: Christine Vachon, Stanley J. Wlodkowski, Pamela Koffler
Composer: Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures

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Reviews for One Hour Photo

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101 - 120 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

An unsettling portrait of loneliness and deep despair.

Full Review Source: Film Blather | comment Comment
08/30/02
Eugene Novikov
Eugene Novikov
Film Blather

Williams's exacting performance -- not a note of it is unconsidered -- makes us feel more for Sy than we'd like to.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
08/30/02
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post

It begins by scaring you to death by evoking a monster, and by the end it has seduced you into caring for him.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
08/30/02
Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter
Washington Post

Together, Williams and Romanek have made a stalker thriller that's as much in sympathy with the loneliness and alienation of the putative villain as it is with the jeopardy of his potential victims.

Full Review Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel | comment Comment
08/30/02
Chauncey Mabe
Chauncey Mabe
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

An impressive debut ... rich with detail and cool-blue style.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
08/30/02
Moira MacDonald
Moira MacDonald
Seattle Times

It's good enough that this is one picture you won't be able to get out of your mind.

Full Review Source: Screen It! | comment Comment
08/30/02
Jim Judy
Jim Judy
Screen It!

This could have been a modest classic, but writer Romanek turned the suspense of artful neurosis toward pulpy psychosis.

Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
08/30/02
David Elliott
David Elliott
San Diego Union-Tribune

Williams absolutely nails Sy's queasy infatuation and overall strangeness.

Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee | comment Comment
08/30/02
Joe Baltake
Joe Baltake
Sacramento Bee

Ultimately well-made but only intermittently gripping.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
08/30/02
Shawn Levy
Shawn Levy
Oregonian

For all its merits, One Hour Photo winds up as just another exercise in genre, although an assured and effective one.

Full Review Source: Miami Herald | comment Comment
08/30/02
Rene Rodriguez
Rene Rodriguez
Miami Herald

Romanek keeps adding flourishes -- artsy fantasy sequences -- that simply feel wrong. They cheapen the overall effect.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
08/30/02
Eric Harrison
Eric Harrison
Houston Chronicle

Williams finally gets a role so smartly written we forget not only that we are watching Williams the dramatic actor, but that we are watching Williams at all.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
08/30/02
Terry Lawson
Terry Lawson
Detroit Free Press

A thought-provoking, artful accomplishment by writer/director Mark Romanek, who reveals a powerfully understated vision of the haunting loneliness behind the forced cheerfulness of the discount store.

Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
08/30/02
Steven Rosen
Steven Rosen
Denver Post

Williams has now proven that he can play creepy with the best of them.

Full Review Source: CNN.com | comment Comment
08/30/02
Paul Clinton (CNN.com)
Paul Clinton (CNN.com)
CNN.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

There are weird resonances between actor and role here, and they're not exactly flattering.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
08/30/02
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe

(Williams) has never slipped this far under the radar, and the result is a spooky, unsettling performance.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
08/30/02
Bill Muller
Bill Muller
Arizona Republic

A finely nuanced character study of insecurity and suppressed malevolence.

Full Review Source: Aufmuth.com | comment Comment
08/30/02
Jeanne Aufmuth
Jeanne Aufmuth
Aufmuth.com

This definitely leaves you feeling overexposed.

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
08/30/02
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

A wonderfully creepy tale [containing] another Oscar worthy performance by Robin Williams.

Full Review Source: Internet Reviews | comment Comment
08/29/02
Steve Rhodes
Steve Rhodes
Internet Reviews

Romanek keeps the film constantly taut...reflecting the character's instability with a metaphorical visual style and an unnerving, heartbeat-like score.

Full Review Source: SPLICEDWire | comment Comment
08/29/02
Rob Blackwelder
Rob Blackwelder
SPLICEDWire
 
 
101 - 120 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >> >|
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Latest News for One Hour Photo

December 03, 2008: Mark Romanek to Direct Alex Garland's Never Let Me Go Opens in new window
Prolific commercial and music video director Mark Romanek, who most recently directed One Hour Photo in 2002, will helm Alex Garland's Never Let Me Go, the film adaptation of... More...

February 09, 2007: Mark Romanek to Direct New "Wolf Man"
We mentioned this story a while back, I believe, but now we have some solid progress, so here we go again: Universal is hot to remake "The Wolf Man," which would... More...

October 05, 2006: Critical Consensus: "Departed" Is Best Reviewed Wide Release of 2006
This week at the movies, we've got cops and robbers in Boston ("The Departed," starring Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Matt Damon), chainsaw massacres in Texas... More...

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