Stephen King’s Thinner -

Another in a long line of Stephen King related theatrical duds (i.e., don’t expect The Shawshank Redemption). Billy Halleck (Robert John Burke) is an unscrupulous lawyer with quite a weight problem, weighing in about 300 pounds. In a car accident, he hits and kills an old gypsy woman. After the local judge and sheriff help him whitewash the affair, an old gypsy man (Michael Constantine) curses all three men. Billy begins to lose weight rapidly. At first, he happily accepts it, but then, as he starts fearing for his health, he struggles to find some way to lift the curse. For the most part, the film sticks close to the book. Unfortunately, although the plot is somewhat interesting, the dialogue is terrible and the acting worse. Only Joe Mantegna as a mafioso, though not terribly original, is somewhat tolerable to watch. The makeup effects are good, but not seamless…at times Billy looks like he could be a member of the duracell Putterman family. What’s even harder to watch is his character, who is rather petty and unsympathetic. Heck, with some of the things he does in the film, perhaps he deserves the curse…certainly, by the very end, the audience is no longer rooting for him. This isn’t an impressive outing for director Tom Holland, and not a very good film.