The Lawnmower Man -- Movie Review #JPMN

• The Lawnmower Man (1992) -- Passable entertainment for the morbidly curious, 3/10.

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~~ Review Script ~~
Very loosely based on the Stephen King short story of the same name, this science fiction actor horror film tripled its $10-million dollar budget when it was released on March 6, 1992. King was so unhappy with the adaptation however, he successfully sued the producers for attaching his name, citing that the film "bore no meaningful resemblance" to his original short. For better or worse, Brett Leonard directs the ambitious project, with opens with a wordy title-card explaining how the future of the year 2000 will be populated with widespread use of a technology known as "virtual reality". A concept which was apparently, novel and exciting some 20 years ago.

Future James Bond player, Pierce Brosnan stars as an eager scientist, who converts his neighborhood's mentally challenged landscaper into a violent genius through the application of computer science, paired with some fancy drugs. As the lawn boy who's constantly taken advantaged of, even sexually, Jeff Fahey does a decent job exhibiting the slow transformation from dim-wit to mastermind - and you can tell he's gotten smarter, thanks to his stylish new haircut, and tucked-in shirt! Brosnan meanwhile makes the best of an empty script, and at least makes the story as believable as possible, who remarks on his scientific advancements, "I think I've discovered a new planet... but one I'm inventing instead of discovering.".

The under featured, and poorly acted supporting cast includes Jenny Wright, Geoffrey Lewis, Jeremy Slate, and an early appearance from Dean Norris as a mysterious, and uncompromising "director" character. The familiar, and adequately paced "sudden acquisition of brainpower" story holds up well enough, but it's the extremely dated visuals of a Fruity-Loops colored VR-environment that drags the entire thing down. Indeed, it's pretty hard to take any film seriously when wearing a fluorescent track suit, and dicking around inside a Super Nintendo is considered "intellectually advanced."

The tragic outcome of Fahey is apparent from the outset, which means the 103-minute experience feel more like a chore than actual entertainment... by the halfway mark, I was just ready for it to be over. Dan Wyman's melodramatic soap opera style music doesn't do the R-rated picture any favors either. A climatic, and virtual battle that involves a VFX shot of a lawnmower mouth inside a brain is particularly ridiculous, and the final straw on what could have been a very interesting, and exciting movie.

Instead, we're left with bad performances from good actors, wasted potential, and a pissed-off novelist. "The Lawnmower Man" might be terrible, but it's a passable entertainment, worth watching for the morbidly curious. I thought it was LAME.
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