'One Hour Photo' Fan Review

by Jenai, Vartan Ho #72

All in all, a very good movie. One Hour Photo stars Robin Williams, Connie Nielsen and Michael Vartan*fan-girl gushing coming at the end of this review.*

One Hour Photo is the story of an film clerk named Sy Parrish. He's a little man, with no friends, family or loved ones to speak of. His life is the photo counter at the SavMart (Read: Walmart). He lives through his customers pictures, but even more so, he lives through the Yorkins. His obsession with the family starts off very slight, with off-color remarks here and there, but when he finds out something about the family, he goes off the deep end. I can't tell you anymore without really giving the movie away.

The performances. All the actors did a wonderful job with the roles they were given. Connie Nielsen was wonderful as Nina Yorkin. Her delivery was pitch-perfect, and she also managed to get me to feel her pain every time she dealt with her husband.

Michael Vartan-He really surprised me with his role. I went in expecting shades of Agent Vaughn, when in fact I got a character who is a polar opposite of Vaughn. His portrayal of Will Yorkin is understated, but that's really the way the character was meant to be played, IMHO. He isn't in the movie much, but with the time he was there, he really lit up the screen. He wasn't his trademark good guy here, and I really admire his ability to make me hate his character but still feel very sorry for him at the same time. It was brave of him to step out of his regular good guy role and take on something this different. Michael took the role, and made it his own. BTW, he's very sexy in this movie as well. The towel, dude, the towel.

Robin Williams- He became Sy Parrish. He had the mannerisms down as well as the character. For a few times in the movie I had forgotten that I was watching Robin Williams. I really enjoyed his work here, much more than Insomnia. I'm expecting an Oscar nod for this role.

All and all, the movie was very good. I felt the ending was a cop out, plain and simple. It could have had a better ending I thought, but that is really the only quibble I had with the movie.

Go see it if you can.

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