Thinner (1996)

An obese attorney is cursed by a gypsy to rapidly and uncontrollably lose weight.

Director:

Tom Holland

Writers:

Stephen King (novel), Michael McDowell (screenplay)

Stars:

Robert John Burke, Joe Mantegna, Lucinda Jenney

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert John Burke	...	Billy Halleck
Lucinda Jenney	...	Heidi Halleck
Bethany Joy Lenz	...	Linda Halleck (as Joy Lenz)
Time Winters	...	Prosecutor
Howard Erskine	...	Judge Phillips
Joe Mantegna	...	Richie Ginelli
Terrence Garmey	...	Bailiff
Randy Jurgensen	...	Court Clerk
Jeffrey Ware	...	Max Duggenfield (as Jeff Ware)
Antonette Schwartzberg	...	Mama Ginelli
Terence Kava	...	Gabe Lempke (as Terrence Kava)
Kari Wuhrer	...	Gina Lempke
Adriana Delphine	...	Gypsy Woman
Ruth Miller	...	Billy's Secretary
Walter Bobbie	...	Kirk Penschley

Storyline

A fat Lawyer finds himself growing "Thinner" when an old gypsy man places a hex on him. Now the lawyer must call upon his friends in organized crime to help him persuade the gypsy to lift the curse. Time is running out for the desperate lawyer as he draws closer to his own death, and grows ever thinner.

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Plot Keywords:

female stockinged legs | pantyhose | psychological thriller | overweight | fat man | 

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Taglines:

More terror. Less filling.

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Genres:

Fantasy | Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for horror violence and gore, language and sexuality

Did You Know?

Trivia

After receiving Michael McDowell's script in 1990, director Tom Holland had to do more than 10 rewrites before executives would green-light the film.

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Goofs

When Bill is talking with Hopley in his study about the gypsy curse, if you look carefully at a picture frame on the left on a table, you can see a microphone boom moving in the reflection of the glass.

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Quotes

Billy Halleck: [Knocking on the front door, Leda opens the door] Leda, is uh, is Cary in?
Leda Rossington: He's in Minnesota visiting relatives.
[She starts to close the door, he stops her]
Billy Halleck: What's wrong with him? Has he lost weight?
Leda Rossington: What are you talking about?
Billy Halleck: I've lost a hundred pounds. That's built with a, uh, a one and two zeros.
Leda Rossington: It was the gypsies, wasn't it?
Billy Halleck: What do you mean: gypsies?
Leda Rossington: Did he touch? Did the old man touch you?
Billy Halleck: What does that have to do with it?
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins (2008)

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Soundtracks

Esmeralda
Written by Thomas Chase (as Thomas Jones-Chase), Steve Rucker, Ezra Kliger
Performed by Thomas Chase (as Thomas Jones-Chase) & Steve Rucker
Courtesy of C.R.P., Inc.

User Reviews

White man from town says take the curse off!

This engaging adaptation of the novel, which Stephen King wrote under his Richard Bachman pseudonym, stars the under rated Robert John Burke as Billy Halleck. Billy is a lawyer in Maine who happens to be grossly overweight. After he accidentally runs down an elderly Gypsy woman, his judge (John Horton) and cop (Daniel von Bargen) friends conspire to help Billy avoid any punishment. This infuriates the old womans' even more ancient father (Michael Constantine, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"), who places one of those old fashioned Gypsy curses on Billy. Stroking Billy's cheek, he utters one word: "Thinner". Soon, Billy is rapidly losing weight, which he enjoys at first, until he realizes that he really is going to waste away to nothing unless something is done.

Just personally speaking, this viewer has a blast with this particular King story. Yes, it's unrelentingly downbeat, but he didn't mind that so much. And it's true: other than Billy's daughter Linda (Bethany Joy Lenz), there isn't a single character in the story who's remotely sympathetic. Still, this viewer found it refreshing that so many people here turn out to be such a-holes. It's a highly entertaining tale, well told by co-screenwriter and director Tom Holland ("Fright Night", "Child's Play"). And it's fortunately not completely without a sense of humor, although the humor tends towards the dark.

There's wonderful music by Daniel Licht, but the real marvel of the movie is the astonishing, convincing makeup effects (supervised by Oscar winner Greg Cannom) that transform the thin Burke into an obese man. There's also a gem of a supporting performance by the always entertaining Joe Mantegna as a mafia man whom Billy had successfully defended in court. Therefore, the mobster feels indebted to the lawyer, and is more than willing to help Billy in his quest to convince the ancient Gypsy to remove the curse. The supporting cast is solid right down the line, with Lucinda Jenney as Billy's possibly unfaithful wife (the script tries to leave this aspect as ambiguous as possible), Sam Freed as a doctor friend, the intoxicatingly sexy Kari Wuhrer as Constantines' great granddaughter, Elizabeth Franz in a bravura turn as Hortons' wife, and Peter Maloney as an information provider. Director Hollands' son Josh plays Frank Spurton; King has his usual cameo (playing a pharmacist). What is a real laugh is the fact that actress Irma St. Paule, as the accident victim, actually looks OLDER than Constantine!

Good gloomy fun, but it won't be to all "tastes", especially the ending.

Eight out of 10.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 October 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Thinner

Filming Locations:

Appleton, Maine, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$8,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,679,046, 27 October 1996

Gross USA:

$15,315,484

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$15,315,484

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Spelling Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1