‘Snapshot’ DVD Review
Stars: Angela Little, Zach McGowan, Angela Gots, Robert Loggia, Michael Paré, Joyce DeWitt, David Chokachi, Martin Kove, Nina Transfeld, Rachael Robbins, Michael Rivera, Ken Del Vecchio, Deirdre Lorenz, Joe Rosario | Written by Robert Borneman | Directed by Eric Etebari
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Former paparazzi Thomas Grady’s most recent picture is certainly worth a lot more. Thomas has inadvertently captured a scandalous, revealing shot of one of the world’s most prominent and beloved figures—the First Lady. What ensues is a terrific conflict of morals, love and money. Selling the picture could resolve all of his professional and financial troubles, but it will also force him to confront the love of his life, as this photo puts the true nature of their relationship to a test. Then there’s the President and First Lady; how far do you think they will go to protect their privacy? What would you do; if it was your privacy for sale?
Snapshot. Oh boy. This film. To begin with, it feels and looks like a film you would discover on TV in the middle of the day when stuck at home with the flu. You don’t want to watch it, but you are too tired to reach for the remote and everything else on makes you want to claw out your weeping, snot-coated eyes, so you watch it anyway and prepare yourself for something cheesy. That, my friend, is a good start. Prepare for cheese. Snapshot follows a photographer who catches a revealing photo of the First Lady and has to decide what to do with it. Fair enough. Interesting topic to explore.
The first problem arises from the fact that you don’t actually figure this out until about thirty minutes in. The story of the photographer is set up in such a long, drawn-out way that you find yourself thinking: ‘And? Why am I watching a photographer go about his day?’ It could have probably been quarter of the length and still provided as much information. If you make it through that, there are some subplots, including an old girlfriend and his current girlfriend’s cousin’s stealing habits, which again add pretty much nothing to the film and could be removed. The only result is a small argument between the photographer and his girlfriend, interrupted by an even cheesier soap opera moment which has them rushing to the hospital.
If you make it through that, then you start to get to the meat of the film. Photographer considering the implications of what would happen if he released the photo, some scary government guys doing scary government things and the president and his wife being all ‘oh no! Bad times!’ Bad times indeed President and First Lady. Bad times indeed. But then, in about fifteen minutes it is resolved. Boom. The end.
Oh wait no, another scene about the photographer’s relationship. Cool. The end.
Oh wait no, another scene about the photographer’s money troubles. Cool. The…
Oh wait no, another scene about the photographer and his relationship with his father. C…
Oh wait no, another scene with the photographer and the First Lady.
By now my mind is gone. I have endured enough of this film and now I am not sure if I am alive and OK, or if my mind has given up and created a fantasy world where I can live out the rest of my life – when in reality I am still sat in front of my television watching Snapshot, the film which never ends.
So yeah, Snapshot. Not the best…
Snapshot is out now on DVD from Osiris Entertainment.
