Thinner (film)
Thinner | |
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Directed by | Tom Holland |
Screenplay by |
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Based on | Thinner by Richard Bachman[a] |
Produced by | |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Kees Van Oostrum |
Edited by | Marc Laub |
Music by | Daniel Licht |
Production company | |
Distributed by |
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Release date |
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Running time | 92 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $8 million[1] |
Box office | $15.3 million (domestic)[2] |
Thinner (marketed as Stephen King's Thinner) is a 1996 American body horror film directed by Tom Holland and written by Michael McDowell and Holland. The film is based on Stephen King's 1984 novel of the same name (which he wrote under the pseudonym Richard Bachman) and stars Robert John Burke, Joe Mantegna, Lucinda Jenney, Michael Constantine, Kari Wuhrer, and Bethany Joy Lenz. In the film, an obese lawyer who accidentally kills a Romani woman is cursed by the woman's father to rapidly lose weight.
Thinner was released in the United States on October 25, 1996, by Paramount Pictures. It received mostly negative reviews and grossed $15.3 million against a budget of $8 million.
Plot
Billy Halleck is an obese upper class lawyer who lives with his wife Heidi and their daughter Linda in Connecticut. He recently defended Mafia boss Richie "The Hammer" Ginelli in court and is now celebrating his acquittal on a murder charge. Heidi, trying to persuade him to forget about his obsession with food, tries to give Billy oral sex as he is driving. Distracted, Billy accidentally runs over an elderly Romani woman named Suzanne Lempke, killing her. He is tried and acquitted of manslaughter by his friend Judge Cary Rossington after getting police chief Duncan Hopley to commit perjury.
Outraged by the injustice, Suzanne's father, Tadzu Lempke, places a curse on Billy on the steps of the courthouse by touching his face and uttering "thinner". Soon afterward, Billy begins to lose weight rapidly despite not exercising or sticking to his diet. Heidi, fearing the weight loss may be due to cancer, calls Dr. Mike Houston, with whom Billy begins to suspect his wife is having an affair. Billy learns that Rossington and Hopley have also been cursed; Rossington is now a hideous lizard-like being, while Hopley develops purulent ulcers on his face and hands. Both men ultimately commit suicide. Billy tracks down the Romani camp and tries to reason with Tadzu; Tadzu refuses to help and banishes him from the camp. Gina, Tadzu's great-granddaughter, uses her slingshot to shoot a large ball bearing which goes through Billy's hand, infuriating him into vowing revenge against the Romani.
Billy enlists Ginelli to attack the Romani camp and persuade Tadzu to lift the curse. Ginelli impersonates an
Cast
- Robert John Burke as Billy Halleck
- Joe Mantegna as Richie "The Hammer" Ginelli
- Lucinda Jenney as Heidi Halleck
- Michael Constantine as Tadzu Lempke
- Kari Wuhrer as Gina Lempke Romani
- Bethany Joy Lenz as Linda Halleck
- Daniel von Bargen as Chief Duncan Hopley
- John Horton as Judge Cary Rossington
- Howard Erskine as Judge Phillips
- Terence Kava as Gabe Romani
- Irma St. Paule as Suzanne Lempke
- Elizabeth Franz as Leda Rossington
- Stephen King as Dr. Jonathan Bangor
- Sam Freed as Dr. Mike Houston
- Antonette Schwartzberg as Mama Ginelli
- Sean Hewitt as Dr. Fander
- Josh Holland as Frank Spurton
- Peter Maloney as Biff Quigley
- Ed Wheeler as Detective Deevers
- Kenneth Londoner as Andrew Richards
- Robert Fitchas 'Flash' Enders
- Patrick Farrelly as Henry Halliwell
- Walter Bobbie as Kirk Penschley
- Jeff Ware as Max Duggenfield
- Time Winters as Prosecutor
Production
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2021) |
In order to accurately depict Halleck's obesity, makeup effects artist
Stephen King reportedly wanted John Candy to portray Halleck.[4]
Critical reception
Thinner received mostly negative reviews from critics. The film holds an approval rating of 19% on
James Berardinelli gave the film two stars out of four, writing: "Thinner could have been an opportunity to examine the ethics of a slick lawyer who refuses to accept responsibility for his actions. [...] Unfortunately, questions of morality are of secondary importance to a film that emphasizes its Death Wish aspects."[7] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "D" rating, writing: "Like too many Stephen King movies, Thinner is all (emaciated) concept and no follow-through."[8] The Austin Chronicle's Marc Savlov gave the film a rating of one out of five stars, writing that, "Apart from its rushed pacing and occasionally stale dialogue, Thinner suffers even more from the fact that it has no redeemable characters."[9]
Variety's Leonard Klady referred to the film as a "banally scripted and directed effort", as well as "one of the more pedestrian translations of the shockmeister's books".[10] A more positive review came from Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle, who called Thinner "one of the better Stephen King-derived movies."[11] Lawrence Van Gelder of The New York Times, in his review of the film, wrote: "The production is slick, the Maine scenery is bracing, the characters are well-acted, and in a mumbo-jumbo movie with a few loose ends, the makeup central to the plot and applied by Greg Cannom and Bob Laden to Robert John Burke in the leading role is most admirable."[12]
In a retrospective review, Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club gave the film a "D−", writing that "Thinner's problems begin with a grotesquely unconvincing fat suit and makeup", and that Burke's "cartoonish performance matches the tone of a film that's broadly comic and often just plain broad without containing much in the way of jokes, let alone genuine wit or suspense."[13]
Notes
- ^ The novel was written by Stephen King, who published it under the pen name "Richard Bachman".
References
- ^ "Thinner (1996)". movierewind.com. Movie Rewind. 29 May 2019.
- ^ "Stephen King's Thinner (1996)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 11, 2009.
- ^ ISBN 978-1480355514.
- ^ Zinski, Dan. "Stephen King Wanted John Candy To Play The Lead In One Of The Worst Adaptations Of His Work". Screen Rant. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
- ^ a b "Stephen King's Thinner (1996)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved February 7, 2024.
- ^ "Thinner Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
- ^ Berardinelli, James. "Review: Thinner". Reelviews Movie Reviews. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
- ^ Gleiberman, Owen (November 8, 1996). "Movie Review: 'Stephen King's Thinner' Review". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on May 5, 2017. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
- ^ Savlov, Marc (November 1, 1996). "Stephen King's Thinner". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
- ^ Klady, Leonard (October 27, 1996). "Stephen King's Thinner". Variety. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
- ^ LaSalle, Mick (October 26, 1996). "Losing Weight, the Stephen King Way". SFGate. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
- ^ Van Gelder, Lawrence (October 26, 1996). "Eat and Be Thin. What's the Catch?". The New York Times. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
- ^ Rabin, Nathan (August 29, 2012). "Thinner". The A.V. Club. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
External links
- Thinner at IMDb
- Thinner at AllMovie
- Thinner at Rotten Tomatoes
- Thinner at Box Office Mojo