GamerTab That was an excellent one.

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Sabah Hensley This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

MichaelMRamey Robin Williams really escapes into this role and the man we've come to love is no where to be seen. However even though he's clearly insane you do find yourself sympathizing with his character. It is a hard film to watch with this man who has no social skills put himself into cringy situations. It will have you on the edge of your seat almost wanting to get out, but so drawn in by the story that you can't help but stay to find out what happens next. However there are parts that are drawn out.

Pjtaylor-96-138044 'One Hour Photo (2002)' is a genuinely disturbing, but non-grotesque, film that stays with you long after its successfully subversive and ambiguous end. It further serves (along with 'Insomnia (2002' and 'Good Will Hunting (1998)') to prove that Robin Williams was a phenomenal dramatic actor capable of incredible diversity along with an understated charm that actually adds to the sort of suburban creepiness of the couple of frightening characters he took on. What he does here is bring a true, tangible humanity to a terribly disturbed, deeply damaged individual and the slow-burn of the piece expertly winds up the suspense for an unsuspected finale that is as shocking as it is successful, unrelentingly uncomfortable and incredibly engaging (in a 'watch through your fingers' kind of way). Even at its darkest, it never to loses sight of its character-based, not mean-spirited, focus. 7/10

Dan1863Sickles I remember enjoying this movie when it first came out fifteen years ago, mainly because Connie Nielsen was so sensationally sexy and because it was fun to see smarmy Robin Williams take a turn as a crazed stalker. But when I bought the DVD from Amazon the other day for about two dollars, I was disappointed by a lot of flaws I didn't notice in the theater.The visuals in this movie are really irritating. Every single store, home, and interior looks like it's a vacuum, a space station laboratory under bright lights where not even a microbe could survive. Is this supposed to mean something? To me it meant the whole story was fake.It really irritated me that, as other reviewers have pointed out, all the photos are perfectly staged and arranged even though the tiny family clearly wouldn't have time to take them and then happily jump into the picture. It was even more aggravating when the young husband was cheating on the sly. Why on earth would anyone cheat on Connie Nielsen? And why would this boring, nothing guy and his secret girl (a scrumptious Erin Daniels, completely wasted in a thankless part) have dozens and dozens of photos documenting every kiss? Robin Williams plays a guy who is timid, shy, and not at all hip to the street. But all of a sudden he's like J.J. Gittes in CHINATOWN, a sleuth who can trail the bad guys all over town and surprise them wherever they try to hide! Also, how did a pitiful clown in a box store earn enough money for that huge apartment with expensive lighting? But the real flaw in this movie is the hidden subtext, the prudery and the sexual repression. Ultimately, Sy the Photo Guy is a surrogate for the Catholic Church, legislating sexual desire while boiling over with uncontrollable appetites himself. The way he takes vengeance at the end reflects not so much a horror at immorality as a disgust with the human body itself. The writer/director is from Chicago, and evidently he's some kind of blue-collar ethnic Catholic with a primitive horror of adult sexuality. This movie really has more in common with STUDS LONIGAN than CHINATOWN. And I don't mean that as a compliment!

dholliday Robin Williams touched a lot of people (no, not like that) in a special way (stop it!). When he passed on, I witnessed quite distraught, hysterical reactions from some fans online. A few were even espousing the idea that Patch Adams & What Dreams May Come were decent films after all. While I'm not a big fan, I really enjoyed his turns as Popeye and the voice of Aladdin's Genie. The man had bags of energetic comedic talent, and his drama skills were pretty good too when not too sweetened with hardcore-saccharine. Yet the most effective comparison with a dramatic actor from his peership is when we consider Dustin Hoffman's turn as Tootsie vs Robin's effort in the Mrs Doubtfire outfit. The latter actor being for the younger and/or more sentimental type.This rather long introduction is just to explain that I generally wasn't fussed about his output, but One Hour Photo intrigued me...and more than a decade after release I finally get to see it. Biggest reason to watch/best thing about it: the character Robin creates here is genuinely believable. He's a living, breathing human being...damaged by his utter loneliness. It's an impressive performance and for me justifies his efforts back then to sell himself as a more serious & versatile actor.The film itself is rather simple, with the rest of the cast blandly portraying 2-dimensional characters. Gary Cole was only given a formulaic role to play, he could've done something special if the writing wasn't so singularly fixated on Robin's character. The family are all a bit yawn. The experience as a whole is mildly-absorbing, if unremarkable. Technically everything is quite competent, tho' again it's all very standard.The premise of the story is stimulating if, like me, you enjoy photography and are engaged in the many facets of the digital-vs-analogue debate. Some might feel the ideas here are outdated already, but there's still plenty of people out there who shoot film and then let their local store develop the images. Plus when the premise really is outdated in a decade or two, this movie serves as a reasonably-accurate snapshot of that era.Recommended for film buffs looking for a very different Robin Williams performance, and also for those interested in the potential illusion of privacy when allowing your analogue film to be developed by strangers.Not particularly recommended if all you're looking for is a gripping psychological thriller, it's just a little too average.