With One Hour Photo, Williams triumphs by exceeding both in sheer actor's craft -- and the depths he plumbs in his character's tortured soul.
One Hour Photo (2002)
Tomatometer
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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
Reviews for One Hour Photo
One Hour Photo, written and directed by Mark Romanek, provides not only a flashy acting vehicle for Mr. Williams, but also a haunting, profound meditation on the way photography has changed the way we think about ourselves.
After years of rehashing the cuddly genie from Aladdin, Williams reminds us why he became a star in the first place.
A tense thriller, but if the romantic couple is in the supposedly intimate photo, who was taking the picture?
It's a stalker flick where things like empathy or suspense or horror have not been allowed to disturb the pristine achievement of the surface.
It comes only three months after Insomnia, a much better thriller where Williams played a much creepier villain
Too often, the director's stark visuals underline the naked simplicity of his story and make his picture of the suburbs seem hopelessly generic.
Lacking [intellectual interest] and lacking the thrills, "One Hour Photo" is more like an underexposed snapshot.
While unsettling, it's also chilly and unmoving. One has to admire its craftsmanship, but in the end it proves oddly unsatisfying--not unlike Williams' performance in it.
Romanek's movie is a bit too pat and pleased with its undeniable ambitions, but the setup resonates with quiet desperation.
One shocking dream sequence involving blood ... is the most chilling thing I've seen since the blood-filled elevator scene in The Shining.
Sy is so deeply disturbed that, paradoxically, he isn't very disturbing.
Robin Williams departs from his fun friendly demeanor in exchange for a darker unnerving role.
Haunting and ominous, written, directed and acted nearly to perfection.
One Hour Photo may be better suited for the 24 hour rental than an evening at the movie theater.
Williams shows us Sy's misery with no funny business. In One Hour Photo, his is a snapshot of human complexity worth framing.
Has it ever been possible to say that Williams has truly inhabited a character? It is now.
Latest News for One Hour Photo
December 03, 2008:
Mark Romanek to Direct Alex Garland's Never Let Me Go ![]()
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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