ONE HOUR PHOTO boasts some pluses: Romanek's direction is competent, even if it goes adrift in the final minutes, with an ending that is much too cute and schmaltzy to ring truthful. Photography is absolutey first class, helping Williams deliver one of his finest performances.
Acting by the rest of the cast is supporting, and no particular role stands out, but certainly there are no downright poor performances.
The script is rather poor, but it has its moments, above all when Sy follows Mrs Yorkin's vehicle in expectation to see how she reacts to the photo showing her husband's affair with Maya Burson, and some terrifically frightening scenes, such as when, in his mind's eye, he wanders about the Yorkins' house, to the point of using their toilet to excrete.
Frankly, after all the buildup and the steadily sinister development of Sy's character, I was expecting a more psychologically substantiated ending, with the violence that tends to accompany such incidents. Instead, Sy loses his job, steals a lethal weapon, breaks the law in various ways... and he does all that just to show Mrs Yorkin that her husband deceives her and her son?
Nah, I don't buy it and I feel cheated by such a dishonest ending.
You do not get to learn whether Sy gets the appropriate prison sentence, all you see is Sy in the final still, with the Yorkins and their son. I cannot possibly see how that could happen in real wife, after he had intruded so criminally in their lives.
Acting by the rest of the cast is supporting, and no particular role stands out, but certainly there are no downright poor performances.
The script is rather poor, but it has its moments, above all when Sy follows Mrs Yorkin's vehicle in expectation to see how she reacts to the photo showing her husband's affair with Maya Burson, and some terrifically frightening scenes, such as when, in his mind's eye, he wanders about the Yorkins' house, to the point of using their toilet to excrete.
Frankly, after all the buildup and the steadily sinister development of Sy's character, I was expecting a more psychologically substantiated ending, with the violence that tends to accompany such incidents. Instead, Sy loses his job, steals a lethal weapon, breaks the law in various ways... and he does all that just to show Mrs Yorkin that her husband deceives her and her son?
Nah, I don't buy it and I feel cheated by such a dishonest ending.
You do not get to learn whether Sy gets the appropriate prison sentence, all you see is Sy in the final still, with the Yorkins and their son. I cannot possibly see how that could happen in real wife, after he had intruded so criminally in their lives.