Sy Parrish (Robin Williams) is the "photo guy" at the local SavMart. For Sy, developing photos isn't a job -- it's an art. He pays strict attention to even the tinest details. He gives best customers free upgrades on the size of their prints, or, as a birthday gift, a disposable camera. Part of the reason for Sy's dedication is that he has no life. When he goes home, he sits alone in a spartan room and watches television. His apartment is undecorated except for one wall, which is papered with hundreds of photographs - extra copies he has made over the years of snapshots brought to him by the Yorkin family - Will (Michael Vartan), Nina (Connie Nielsen), and their son Jake (Dylan Smith). Sy has been living vicariously through these people for more than half a decade, getting to know them through their photographs and the occasional, brief contact he has with them when they drop off their film. To them, he's just the friendly face at the one-hour photo - someone acknowledged, then forgotten. To him, they are an adopted family. In his creepy fantasy world, he is "Uncle Sy".
Sy's precarious mental balance begins to shift. He desires to enjoy more substantive contact with the Yorkin's. He begins to act irrationally - buying Jake a toy, showing up at his soccer practice, and reading the same book as Nina. The stress level begins to churn as Sy's boss (Gary Cole) begins to show displeasure with Sy's work and attitude. Finally, a coincidence allows Sy to discover that Will is having an affair, and he feels deeply betrayed. This man, who has everything Sy longs for, is cheating on his wife and neglecting his son. Such a thing is not to be tolerated, and Sy, whose personality is the kind for which the word "postal" was coined, decides to rectify matters himself.
One Hour Photo is an effective portrait of a lonely, deranged human being and the increasingly frantic rhythms of his out-of-kilter existence. Sy has no friends, no family, no past and no future. He crosses the line from being harmless and pathetic to being dangerous when he can no longer differentiate between fantasy and reality. The move from passive dreamer to active player is not only predictable but inevitable given the psychological profile put together by the filmmaker and scriptwriter.
The film stumbles, near the end, when One Hour Photo takes a stab at explaining Sy's psychosis by falling back on a familiar cliche. Williams' powerhouse performance during the key revelation scene is so good that it almost excuses this scipt weakness. Sy is a more compelling character when the audience is trying to figure him out. Nevertheless, any weakness is the last 10 minutes can be forgiven by the energy the film has in getting there. Dark and unrepentant, this excursion into the epicenter of percolating mental instability is not easily dismissed or forgotten.
Porculus