La Peau sur les os

This engaging adaptation of the novel, which Stephen King wrote under his Richard Bachman pseudonym, stars the under-rated Robert John Burke ("RoboCop 3") as Billy Halleck. Billy is a lawyer in Maine who happens to be grossly overweight. After he accidentally runs down an elderly Gypsy woman, his judge (John Horton, "The Shawshank Redemption") and police chief (Daniel von Bargen, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?") friends conspire to help Billy avoid any punishment. This infuriates the old womans' even more ancient father (Michael Constantine, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"), who places one of those old-fashioned Gypsy curses on Billy. Stroking Billy's cheek, he utters one word: "Thinner". Soon, Billy is rapidly losing weight, which he enjoys at first, until he realizes that he really is going to waste away to nothing unless something is done.

Just personally speaking, this viewer has a blast with this particular King story. Yes, it's unrelentingly downbeat, but I didn't mind that so much. And it's true: other than Billy's daughter Linda (Bethany Joy Lenz, 'Pearson'), there isn't a single character in the story that's particularly sympathetic. Still, this viewer found it refreshing that so many of the characters here turn out to be such a-holes. It's a highly entertaining tale, well told by co-screenwriter and director Tom Holland ("Fright Night", "Child's Play"). And it's fortunately not completely without a sense of humor, although the humor tends towards the dark.

There's wonderful music by Daniel Licht, but the real marvel of the movie is the astonishing, convincing makeup effects (supervised by Oscar winner Greg Cannom) that transform the thin Burke into an obese man. There's also a gem of a supporting performance by the always entertaining Joe Mantegna ('Criminal Minds') as a mafia man whom Billy had successfully defended in court. Therefore, the mobster feels indebted to the lawyer, and is more than willing to help Billy in his quest to convince the ancient Gypsy to remove the curse. The supporting cast is solid right down the line, with Lucinda Jenney ("Thelma & Louise") as Billy's possibly unfaithful wife (the script tries to leave this aspect as ambiguous as possible), Sam Freed ('Kate & Allie') as a doctor friend, the intoxicatingly sexy Kari Wuhrer ("Eight Legged Freaks") as Constantines' great granddaughter, Elizabeth Franz ("School Ties") in a bravura turn as the judges' distraught wife, and Peter Maloney ("The Thing") as an information provider. Director Hollands' son Josh plays Frank Spurton; King has his usual cameo (playing a pharmacist). What is a real laugh is the fact that actress Irma St. Paule ("Twelve Monkeys"), as the accident victim, actually looks OLDER than Constantine!

Good gloomy fun, but it won't be to all "tastes", especially the ending.

Eight out of 10.

Look, I was entertained for 90 minutes, long enough for a few brewskies and some popcorn, and that's all I asked of it. It's not a masterpiece. It's a simple story, simple characters... but why would you expect anything else? Just look at the DVD cover for f***'s sake. I'm baffled by the people who come on this movie's forum and are surprised by what a bad movie it was. Uh yeah, don't get me wrong, it's a RIDICULOUSLY stupid movie, but that's pretty much what I was looking for when I rented it.

Had I gone into this movie without any former expectations, I would have given it 5 stars overall. The acting was way over the top, the directing not so great, and the writing wasn't spectacular either. However, the story was moderately clever, and it gets points for keeping a fairly tongue-in-cheek humor about it; at no point did I feel like it was trying to take itself seriously. I give it another star based entirely off the strength of it's makeup effects (yes, they're that good, considering it was made in a time before digital makeup).

Finally, I give it 7 stars, simply because it met my expectations as a cheesy, over-the-top, horror romp, and I would've expected nothing less from "Stephen King's Thinner".

The corpulent Billy Halleck(Robert James Burke)is a successful advocate in law. While he's driving along with his wife(Lucinda Jenney), he accidentally hits a gypsy with his car and run. Then he's cursed by an old gypsy(Michael Constantine) and his gorgeous daughter(Kari Wuher) with a continuous weight loss. With the complicity of local judge and the sheriff (Daniel Von Bargen)Billy is absolved. Furthermore, Billy is friend of a local mobster named Richie(Joe Mantegna) who is determined to save him, originating a cruel vendetta.

Thinner was written by Stephen King in 1984, based on horror master bestselling novel of the same name, under pseudonym Richard Bachman . Early the 90s, Warner Brothers attempted cinema rendition with John Candy, but death actor made the pre-production failed. The Paramount Pictures took the production with interesting script by Tom Holland(Langoliers) and Michael Mc Dowell( screenwriter of Beetlejuice and Tales from the darkside). Casting is frankly decent, Robert James Burke(usual of director Hal Hartley), recently his success in Robocop 3, Joe Mantegna(usual of David Mamet,Things change,House of games,Homicide),the beautiful Kari Wuher(Anaconda,Sliders). Besides, as always, habitual cameo by Stephen King as Dr. Bangor. The film displays adequate musical score fitting to terror and suspense by Daniel Licht The motion picture is professionally directed by Tom Holland(Fright night,Child's play), a director expert in horror and suspense movies. The result is better than previous Stephen king adaptation, the mediocre, Running man. Rating : Acceptable and passable picture, well worth watching for Stephen King fond.

Alright people, what's up with all the negative reviews for this flick? Coming from a horror fan, I loved Thinner...simple as that. Working from a story by Stephen King, this is Tom Holland's return to kick-ass horror. Billy Halleck is a very overweight attorney who is cursed by a Gypsy after an unfortunate automobile accident. That's the set-up for this cautionary tale about accepting guilt. Greg Cannom's (Bram Stoker's Dracula) make-up is superb, the guy has two academy awards for Christ's sake. So lighten up. Joe Mantegna is hilarious as Ritchie the Hammer and Robert John Burke is intense ("I'm being ERASED!"). There might be a little hammy acting here and there, but what would a horror movie be without that? The story is just superb and the line between good and evil is very blurry here. Having no good guy makes it a very interesting film and a little more realistic. It's a perfect thriller in the Tales From the Crypt vein.

I saw this movie on TV a few years back. I'd read the book before seeing the movie, and I've read the book a second time recently, after seeing the movie. And I think I can safely say that 'Thinner' is a decent attempt, but doesn't live up to the book.

The movie is based on Stephen King's 'Thinner'. It is based around an obese small-town lawyer, Billy Halleck (Robert Burke), who has a curse put on him by a gypsy (Michael Constantine), after running over his daughter with his car. Halleck leaves his wife (Lucinda Jenny) and daughter (Joie Lenz), to find the gypsy and get the curse that is steadily making him thin reversed, before it is too late.

Like another reviewer said, this movie seems really TV movie-ish. The only actor I recognize in this movie is the typecasted Joe Mantegna. The rest I've never heard of before or since this movie. For the most part the movie is faithful to the book. But, it lacks much of the vivid detail of the book. Also, the main character is far more tame in the movie. Though, as I said, most of the actors I've never heard of before or since, they do a very good job in this movie. After seeing the movie, I can't picture anyone else playing the roles they did. And the make-up effects are amazing.

Overall, a decent movie. Could've better captured the spirit of the book. You could find a worse way to spend two hours.

Rating: 7/10