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Review: Creepy, sharp 'One Hour Photo'

Robin Williams shines in unorthodox role

(CNN) -- Robin Williams, it has been reported, decided to change his career strategy in the aftermath of being critically accused of playing the same warm-and-fuzzy characters time and again in such sappy films as "Patch Adams" (1998) and "Jack" (1996). It got to the point where insulin shots should have been sold along with the tickets to his films.

Williams says he was rarely offered villainous roles and was actively looking for challenging parts. Whatever the reason, the Academy Award-winning actor certainly did change gears -- big time. In three films this summer Williams has played decidedly non-warm-and-fuzzy roles, with varying results. His turn as a psycho kiddie-show host in "Death to Smoochy" bombed bigger than Michael Jackson's latest album, but as a killer in "Insomnia" he was actually quite good.

Now, "One Hour Photo," ends his 2002 summer of the bad boy trilogy, and this dark obsessive drama may be the best of the lot.

Williams plays Seymour "Sy" Parrish, an unassuming man whose clothing, skin and hair are all the same bland shade of beige. He lives his life leaving no trace behind. His primary contact with the world is through his job as a one-hour photo technician at his local SavMart, a large, graceless discount store. And his only passion is a very unsettling obsession with his longtime customers, the Yorkin family.

The perfect family, on paper

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Connie Nielsen (2000's "Gladiator") plays Nina Yorkin, the perfect image of the modern mother. Michael Vartan (from the TV show "Alias") plays her husband Will, a handsome, hard-working provider. Eight-year-old Dylan Smith makes his film debut as their sweet-natured, always polite and respectful son Jakob.

This shining example of the American dream documents every moment of their lives through family snapshots, and come into contact with Sy on what seems to be an almost daily basis. Over the years Sy has seen the most important moments in their lives: He's watched Jakob grow up and been along on all the family vacations, birthdays, and special moments that have been captured on film.

Along the way he's invented a familial connection with the Yorkins and lives vicariously through them. They're the ideal family. They never disappoint him. They never yell at him. They never lie to him. But the Yorkin family in Sy's head doesn't exist. They're frozen images on celluloid, perfection captured in five-by-seven photographs.

Lonely men on the outside

Robin Williams plays a loner who works in a discount store photo-development shop in "One Hour Photo."

Then Sy's carefully ordered life is shattered. He loses his job, and his contact with the Yorkins -- and their photos -- is lost. He also discovers that things are not what they seem behind the celluloid facade of his unofficially adopted family. The combination sends Sy into a blind panic and down a road that changes everything.

Writer-director Mark Romanek says his inspiration for "One Hour Photo" came from such films as "The Conversation" (1974), "The Tenant" (1976) and "Taxi Driver" (1976), and other "lonely men living on the outside of life" movies from the '70s. Romanek does achieve a chilling anonymity in the film. Everything in Sy's environment is bland and sterile. And in a weird way, Sy's revenge against the Yorkins for not being his image of perfection is almost more chilling then anything Travis Bickle did in the aforementioned "Taxi Driver."

Williams has now proven that he can play creepy with the best of them. "One Hour Photo" is ultimately a deeply unsettling psychological thriller. Its one major flaw is that Romanek should have given the audience a better understanding of Sy's background earlier in the film and fleshed out his motivation. His decision to just slap it into one of the final scenes cheapens an otherwise well-crafted story.

"One Hour Photo" opened in limited release on August 21 and is being expanded to more theaters over the next few weeks.