Cons: I couldn't figure out what kind of film it wanted to be
The Bottom Line: This is a movie that wanted to be a psycho thriller like Silence but ended up more like a drama but it failed on both fronts in the end.
I watched One Hour Photo shortly after it came out but had such a hard time drafting up a review on it so it ended up being on the backburner. And it wasn't until recently that I could muster my energy to complete this review. This is one of those reviews that I was dragging my feet on because it was so hard to try to analyze and dissect what was really wrong with it. And there was a lot of things wrong with it.
One Hour Photo had many problems with it, the main one, was the way it was marketed out to the audience. I was expecting this movie to be full of action and suspense, much like that of "Silence of the Lambs", "Manhunter" and "Red Dragon". I was expecting to see Robin Williams emerge into a "monster" who kills his victims and I think a lot of people who go to watch One Hour Photo would also expect that too. This was presented as a Hollywood thriller movie and when it wasn't really what most people expect it to be. There weren't ANY and I repeat ANY blood or guts or gore or murderous violent scenes that most thrillers would provide. Anyone who goes in to watch this movie with that expectation, would be extremely disappointed. As such, this movie should not be considered as a "thriller" in the usual Hollywood type violent thriller movie such as Silence of the Lambs. Instead, it should be typed as a drama. But then, if they marketed it as a drama, it would fail too because there really isn't much of a story to it either to make it a good drama. Maybe 20th Century Fox wanted to rig in all the thriller type audiences in before they clued in and stopped going, just to recoup some money.
I re-watched the trailer for the movie and came back out with the same conclusion. 20th Century Fox deliberately presented and marketed this picture as a thriller that is very similar to Silence of the Lambs. There were scenes that was presented to convey that Robin Williams' character was a stalker, which was true, but also as someone who was capable of murder, almost to the degree in which I could hear Robin Williams talk about having "Fava beans with Chiante" FFFFFth. Ha. Ha. Bad joke.
The trailer presented Robin Williams' character, Seymour "Sy" Parrish, as knowing everything about this family and implying that he was going to kill them. And to have a quote from the movie that the word "snapshot" came from a hunting term. Now, being someone who hasn't watched the movie with such a trailer, you would most logically conclude that this would be a movie about a one hour photo guy who collects your family photos, stalks his victims and kills them. Maybe I was the only fool to think so before I watched it? Maybe not. And with that preconceived notion in mind, I found that the movie truly disappoint. Even Robin Williams couldn't transform a poorly presented movie into a great one.
This movie failed on many fronts, besides the manipulative marketing. The story could have been broadened up a bit more. There was a lot of focus on Sy, how he thinks, what he does, what his life is like. Sy was a lonely man who didn't have any friends. After work, he went home alone to a dark apartment and fed his pet hamster. But one thing different about Sy was that, unlike other lonely people, Sy had a special "hobby". He collected photos of a family that he developed pictures for at the local SavMart and had them in a collage on his wall. His wall of pictures covered over nine years of the Yorkin family's life, starting with the birth of the son. By viewing the photos, Sy, felt like he was a part of the family, an "uncle", as he wanted to be considered. But, there wasn't really an explanation as to why Sy would take up such a hobby, well, there was a brief mention of Sy being abused and photographed by his father. But there weren't enough of an explanation as to why Sy would take up such a hobby. I found it hard to believe that someone who was abused as a child and photographed in uncomfortable situations would turn out to be a photo developer who took great pride in his work of art. If I were in his shoes, I doubt I would want to have anything to do with photography or developing pictures since they would bring up the horrible past. To me, that part was unbelievable.
Second, although the movie mainly focused on Sy and his actions, I thought it would have been a bit more of a balanced movie if the characters of the Yorkin family were brought out a bit more, to allow the audience to feel for them. I didn't feel at all connected to the family. Sure, I saw them together and doing things but I couldn't really seem to connect to them. Had they spent more of the focus on the family and how supposedly close they were, maybe my opinion of this movie would have been a little different, well, maybe not.
Third, although Robin Williams did the best he could to flesh out his character as someone who was lonely, old, starving for love, I had a hard time "feeling" his character or relating to him either. At the end of the movie, I felt quite indifferent. I didn't feel sorry for him. Actually, for that matter, I didn't feel anything for any of the characters. I think the problem was in emphasising too much on Sy's character and not on the others. So, with the movie being so imbalanced, the rest of the movie such as the characters and the plot, crumbled. The motivation behind Sy's actions weren't really explained. I could understand what got Sy to do what he did but I had a hard time understanding what really motivated it. Sure, he envied the family and felt close to them to do something about the "problem" but I fail to see what his past abuse had to do with it. The failure of his character and this movie was its focus on him and its lack of explanation of what made him the way he is, about his childhood abuse, how it led to his current state. In my opinion, had they done so, I might have changed my mind on the character and the movie. What ended up happening in my opinion was a waste of time. Sy did his "thing" in reaction to his circumstances and reaction to his imaginary "world" and in the end, it didn't really amount to anything. The movie builds well into the climax and then, when I got there, it was like, "Huh? That's it?!!!". This was one of those few movies I've watched where I was so disappointed with the climax that I felt tricked, conned and disgusted.
I think that a big problem this movie had was that it really didn't know what it wanted to be. Was it a typical Hollywood psycho thriller in the same light as Silence or was it more of a drama, which it sort of ended up being since there wasn't much of anything in terms of excitement in it. There weren't any of those typical Hollywood chilling scenes or adrenaline rushes that I had expected or anything exciting for that matter. If it were more geared towards a drama, I guess that it shouldn't have focused as much on Sy's obsession of collecting photos of the family as it did. It should have shown more on how lonely he was, how happy the Yorkin family seemed from his perception and more on how his imaginary family was to him. But then, if it were more of a drama, there wouldn't be much of a story either because it would have just been a story of a lonely old man. I guess it was a quick stab at the psycho triller audience to get their film watching dollars before Red Dragon came out. But then, even Red Dragon, a re-make of the low budget Manhunter was a disappointment. For more info on my review on Red Dragon, you check out my review on Red Dragon.
In the end, I failed to be entertained, or enlightened by this film. I was extremely disappointed since it wasn't much of a movie at all, especially since I couldn't figure what the movie wanted to be. Since even Red Dragon, which I found to be a disappointment, this film can only merely be a throwaway in my mind. I doubt that I could even muster a second watch when it comes out on TV because I was so turned off by it.
Thanks for taking the time to read and rate my review.
Robin Williams delivers his finest hour (USA Today)in one of the eeriest, most absorbing, effective thrillers in years (NBC-TV). Sy the photo guy Parr...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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