One Hour Photo 2002

C+

This movie has the feel of a short film feature, the kind that wins Oscars for its category but that no one ever sees. It has a very weird look to it starting with Robin Williams’ bleached cropped hair and even with the scenery where Andy Warhol must have stocked the store shelves with row upon row of the same colorful products (one scene features a 10-foot wide section of pink stuffed teddy bears next to ten feet of light blue ones next to ten feet of purple ones).

So visually it is an interesting experience. And there is a lot of tension that mounts with most of the story in flashback as the police question Robin Williams. So you know he’s going to crack, you just don’t know why or how. The pieces are all put in place carefully as the story unfolds, well, let’s say it “develops". Ultimately there isn’t much here which is another reason this feels like a film school piece that someone stretched into a feature. You could edit the movie down to 20 minutes if you wanted to and lose very little. As it is, it still only lasts 96 minutes though it seemed longer in spots.

If you want to watch something kind of creepy and you like movies that have an artsy look to them, this will be a good one to watch. Otherwise I don’t think you’re missing much if you pass it by. I’ll give it a C+.