Coming over all creepy (One Hour Photo (DVD))

Member Name: dave27

Product:	One Hour Photo (DVD)
Date:	20/06/04 (79 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Williams

Disadvantages: The rest of the cast

Robin Williams is generally Mr Good Time, Mad Eyed, 40 words a second MR STAND UP COMEDY, and very bloody good he is at it too.

However, in recent years he has found his way into more dramatic roles and proven that he also has a fair amount of depth to his acting ability, and certainly knows how to play a bad guy. In fact, he?s bloody good at it.

In One Hour Photo, he excels himself as Sy Parrish, the lonely guy who works in the photo development department at his local Savemart store, and who starts to become obsessed with the Yorkin family, although he is none too keen on the man of the family.

He starts to imagine himself to be some sort of family member as he spends most of his days working on the family photos that Nina Yorkin brings in to get developed. His initial fascination soon comes to become an altogether more dangerous obsession, and when he finds that the husband is having an affair he doesn?t take it at all well, and decides to try and put things right.

Williams is actually quite wonderful as Uncle Sy, a pretty creepy if lonely loser who lives his life through the family and wishes he could be part of their life.

One Hour Photo is an interesting and intriguing thriller, replete with plenty of menace, which is all the more dreadful because of the very mundaneness of the lives of the characters. There?s something chilling about knowing that all of this could easily happen to you and yours and the nice little fell who works down Tesco stacking the shelves might actually be a thoroughly nasty piece of work.

Williams is by far and away the best thing about One Hour Photo, although Connie Nielsen as Nina Yorkin is very watchable, and the tension is built nicely. Unfortunately, it?s all a li
ttle bit predictable and you know right from the off exactly how things are going to end up. Williams takes his character to the very edge of his obsession and becomes a totally evil monster, but you almost feel some sympathy and certainly the anger about the husband?s faithlessness is real enough and sincere.

The idea of One Hour Photo is probably better than the realisation, but it?s certainly a decent enough way to spend an hour or two. There?s nothing exactly memorable about it and there?s a dreadful mid-American atmosphere to it all, but then there?s nothing unusual in that.

Robin Williams was taking a pretty big risk with moving away from the stereotypical family comedy roles of Peter Pan and Mrs Doubtfire, but then he?s always been prepared to operate on the edge (apart from when he was Mork from Ork), but has demonstrated that he can really act and doesn?t need all the quirky voices. Sy Parrish is the sort of role that Laurence Olivier used to do so well, and with One Hour Photo, Williams has proven that he too can aspire to big time, dramatic roles with a flair and individual genius.

Cast

Robin Williams .... Seymour 'Sy' Parrish
Connie Nielsen .... Nina Yorkin
Michael Vartan .... William 'Will' Yorkin
Dylan Smith .... Jake Yorkin
Erin Daniels .... Maya Burson
Paul H. Kim .... Yoshi Araki (as Paul Hansen Kim)
Lee Garlington .... Waitress
Gary Cole .... Bill Owens
Marion Calvert .... Mrs. Von Unwerth
David Moreland .... Mr. Siskind
Shaun P. O'Hagan.... Young Father
Jim Rash .... Amateur Porn Guy
Nick Searcy .... 
6;arry, the Repairman
Dave Engfer .... Sav-Mart Clerk
Jimmy Shubert .... Soccer Coach

Summary: