The Lawnmower Man (1992)

Director:

Brett Leonard

Writers:

Stephen King (title only) (credit removed following lawsuit)
Brett Leonard (writer) ...

Release Date:

6 March 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Horror | Romance | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

God made him simple. Science made him a god.

Plot:

A simple man is turned into a genius through the application of computer science.

Plot Keywords:

Male Female Relationship | Female Nudity | Intelligence | Cyberspace | Computer Cracker

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Jeff Fahey	...	Jobe Smith
Pierce Brosnan	...	Dr. Lawrence Angelo
Jenny Wright	...	Marnie Burke
Mark Bringleson	...	Sebastian Timms
Geoffrey Lewis	...	Terry McKeen
Jeremy Slate	...	Father Francis McKeen
Dean Norris	...	The Director
Colleen Coffey	...	Caroline Angelo
Jim Landis	...	Ed Walts
Troy Evans	...	Lieutenant Goodwin
Rosalee Mayeux	...	Carla Parkette
Austin O'Brien	...	Peter Parkette
Michael Gregory	...	Security Chief
Joe Hart	...	Patrolman Cooley
John Laughlin	...	Jake Simpson

Also Known As:

Stephen King's The Lawnmower Man
Virtual Wars (Japan: English title)

Runtime:

107 min | USA:140 min (director's cut)

Country:

UK | USA | Japan

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:16 (video rating) | Iceland:14 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Germany:16 | Netherlands:16 | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R

Company:

Allied Vision Ltd.

Trivia:

When Dr. Angelo stimulates Jobe's brain using virtual reality, the symbols that fly at Jobe, at close inspection, are Kabbalistic mystical symbols with ancient Hebrew writing around them.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Dr. Angelo, remarking on Jobe's progress with Latin, says that he himself took a year to learn just the Latin alphabet, which is still in use, plus a few letters, as the English alphabet. (In mitigation, he could be referring to the difficulty in reading ancient manuscripts, though this seems unlikely in context.)

Quotes:

Jobe Smith: Mind over matter Dr. Angelo, not a miracle - a fact.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Pierce Brosnan/Destiny's Child (#26.18)" (2001)

Soundtrack:

Man Wants

Not an absolute masterpiece, but well worth the rental

I got 'The Lawnmower Man' as part of one of those 'Buy a pizza and get a free movie' deals, and I put off watching it. And put it off more. And more, until finally I had nothing else to do, so I popped it in the VCR and sat back. Two and half hours later (It was the director's cut- don't see the normal version as it is not nearly as good) it instantly became one of my favorite movies, so I rewound it and watched it again.

To date I have seen it four of five times, as it has problems, it's not very fast paced, but is terribly engaging and Fahey is superb in the lead. The writing isn't great, but is passable, and the computer effects, though far from the center of the story, are excellent.

If you haven't seen it yet, or have only seen the normal version, it is well worth the rental, or even purchase.