I know, you have seen a lot of movies with Robin Williams and he has been hysterically funny...manic almost, in his portrayals of comic characters. He played in comedies like "Flubber", "The Bird Cage", "Jumanji", "Hook", "Mrs. Doubtfire", "Moscow on the Hudson", "Adventures of Baron Munchausen", "Popeye", "World According to Garp" and "Death to Smootchy". He supplied voices in many animated movies, as well: "Ferngully", "Aladdin", and "Aladdin and the King of Thieves". He has starred in some great dramas including "Seize the Day", "Good Morning Vietnam", "Dead Poets Society", "Good Will Hunting", "Patch Adams", "What Dreams May Come", and "Insomnia". But you have not seen anything yet. Not until you see Robin Williams doing deeply disturbed, crazy, obsessed, and maniacal.

In this movie Robin Williams plays Seymour Parrish. Sy knows only one thing and that is photo developing. He works for Sav-Mart in the One Hour Photo department. He has worked there for years, and no one knows as much as him about developing photos. Working in a place like this, he is undervalued and will go nowhere. Kids make as much as him, knowing much less. But he still takes pride in his work. He has no life outside of his job. For years he has seen customers come and go, but one family caught his eye, the Yorkins. In Sy's mind, they are HIS family. Every time they brought in a roll of film to be developed, he made a set for himself. He knows all the moments of their lives. Through their pictures, he has become a part of every important event...their weddings, holidays, birthdays, birth of their son, anniversaries, trips, etc. All these photos are pasted up on a wall in his apartment. A shrine to the Yorkins.

One day he discovers something about Will Yorkin that bursts Sy's fragile bubble. His one link to sanity snaps and the direction he takes to remedy the situation is a very dark and disturbed one.

Robin Williams is fantastic in this role. He is so understated, which is exactly how he should have been. After all...it's always the quiet ones, right? Everything is perfect, his thinning hair, his clothes, his mannerisms. You feel for him from the very beginning. You know how badly he longs to have a family, people who care about him, children, a home, but for him it's just not in the cards. His only happy times are when he's working and when he's lost in his own personal "Kodachrome moments" of fantasy.

Williams' performance is the best part of this movie. The other actors just don't seem to flesh-out well. But I think that is because they are supposed to be perfect, and if we are meant to see them as they really are, it would break the illusion. Until Sy's break with reality, they are to appear as flawless.

Connie Nielson plays Nina Yorkin. She has also been in "The Devil's Advocate", "Soldier", "Mission to Mars", and "Gladiator". Michael Vartan played Will Yorkin. He has been in "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar", "The Pallbearer", "Touch Me", "Never Been Kissed", and "The Next Best Thing". Dylan Smith (Jakob Yorkin) has also been in "Gilmore Girls" in one episode.

This movie is written and directed by Mark Romanek who has done a 67 minute compilation of Madonna's work called "Madonna: The Video Collecton 93:99", a two-video set documentary from the band Nine Inch Nails called "Closure", a collection of R.E.M. music videos called "R.E.M. Parallel", and movie called "Static" starring Keith Gordon and Amanda Plummer.

"One Hour Photo" is deep and creepy and a testament to our crazy times. We've all heard similar stories in the news and something like this could happen to anyone we know...even ourselves. I think this is the scariest part about the movie, the fact that it's not such a big stretch of the imagination. According to Sy, "No one takes a picture of something they want to forget." "If pictures have anything to say, it's this: I was here, I existed. I was young and happy and someone cared enough about me to take my picture." Sadly, no one took many pictures of Sy. "Pretend, it's all pretend.", says Sy...until it becomes very, very real.

I liked this movie. I felt as though I held my breath through the whole thing and then exhaled in relief. It was time well spent and I will rent it and watch it again when it comes out in dvd. If you like thrillers, you will like "One Hour Photo", I am sure.



Recommended:
Yes

Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age