Review of Thinner (1996) by Sean M — 08 Jul 2010

Back in the 80s Stephen King re-released the books that he wrote under the early career pseudonym Richard Bachman & made a fucking mint. I was really into King @ the time & read The Bachman books that included Rage (that still should be made into a movie because it was the best of the lot), The Long Walk, Roadwork & The Running Man.

I also read Thinner & was completely unimpressed w/ it, felt King was ripping people off w/ 2nd rate material & had completely no interest in this movie adaptation. The only reason I watched it now is I had PVR'd it & needed to clean some shit off.

So while getting a hummer from his wife Robert John runs over an old gypsy woman, gets offi in court & has a weight loss curse put on him from the father of the gypsy he killed. Most of the rest of the movie has John dropping about 6 pounds a day while he continues to stuff his face (which is not entertainment) until he figures out what the old gypsy has done to him.

From there he tries to reason w/ the old man to no avail so he (too weak from weight loss) gets Joe Mantegna to get the curse lifted by violent means. Then there's a twist @ the end. This didn't tank out like a lot of King adaptations but somehow I was just as unsatisfied as I was w/ the book.

It's like when you eat something off the McDonald's value menu when you really wanted a steak.