Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 2002

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For hours after watching One Hour Photo, I was unsure of how I felt about this strange and disturbing "thriller". Yes, I was creeped-out, but "thrilled"? I didn't really think so, not at first. That lack of surety quickly vanished when I went to the movie's website - and in looking at nothing but the character Sy's eyes, I realized that in the 95 minutes of watching this movie, I never once noticed Robin Williams, Actor, staring back at me. THE STORY (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**) One Hour Photo tells the deceptively simple, yet incredibly complex tale of Seymour 'Sy' Parrish (Robin Williams), a mild-mannered clerk (or as he would want to be known, Photo Technician). Sy puts his all into helping his customers Celebrate The Moments Of Their Lives, by meticulously, almost lovingly, bringing the photographs his customers bring him, to full bloom. Regardless to what his overseer...er, manager Bill Owens (Gary Cole) might think, for Sy, it's not just a job; it's a calling. And no family has made Sy heed the calling more than the Yorkins. After developing their pictures over many years, Sy feels like he knows Nina (Connie Nielsen), Will (Michael Vartan) and their son Jake (Dylan Smith) as if they were family. For Sy, though, there's no "as if" to it. While Sy has inserted himself - literally and figuratively - into the Yorkin's lives as a shadow lurking in the background, Nina and Jake have almost treated him like the family pet. No, make that, a neighborhood stray; you'd put treats out for the poor mutt because you felt sorry for him, but you'd never invite him in. Thing is, Sy wants to be invited in. Desperately. THE UPSHOT My reaction to One Hour Photo, was like the feeling you get in your gut after you've been sucker-punched: you may not notice the full impact at first, but soon enough, you realize the wind has been knocked out of you. This delayed reaction made me bolt upright and excl