The Lawnmower Man
Rating: ***.5 (three and a half out of five) Plot: Poor Jobe. He’s used to be a happy simpleton spending his days mowing lawns and his nights being abused by priests. He wasn’t happy, but he was dumb enough not to realize that he wasn’t happy, so he was. Then the brainy neighbor, made entirely of chest hair and suave, had to come and muck things up for him. The neighbor makes him play virtual reality games that make him as smart as a smart monkey, and then way smarter. Jobe realizes how shitty his life is at about the same time that he gets the power to set people on fire with his mind. This turns out to be a bad combination for the meanies in his life. Review: This is Flowers for Algernon meets Johnny Mnemonic, but more ridiculous. I do have to admit that I gave it at least a full star just because I love the feel of movies made in this era. I also gave it some leeway for the originality and weirdness of the movie, but I have a lot of complaints. The business that Dr. Angelo worked for was not believable, nor were his ‘experiments’. The 3D sequences showing Jobe getting smarter actually made me dumber for watching them. Fahey also made the mistake in the beginning of the movie that goes directly against the sage advise of Robert Downy Jr. to ‘never go full retard’. All that being said, the characters themselves and interactions between them felt pretty genuine, and the special effects were pretty damn good for their time. Most importantly, it was fun to watch. |
| Notable scene: When ultra-Jobe takes out a fleet of bad guys by scrambling their molecular makeup with his mega mind. |
Gore:   Buckets |
Sex/Nudity:   Nipples |
Scariness:   Screams |
Campiness:   Donald Pleasances |
Creepiness:    Cellar Doors |
| Munchy Suggestion: Weird fancy wafer things with chocolate inside from California. |
For More: Information than you require about the flick, look here:  or here:  . |
2 Responses to “The Lawnmower Man”
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October 20th, 2013 at
Good review! This was one of my favorite movies from childhood because of the Flowers for Algernon aspects; namely that some people dump on the weak (in this case, mentally feeble), but get it back in spades when the tables are turned. Also that greater intelligence doesn’t necessarily lead to greater happiness, but can actually lead to misery as it grants greater awareness of one’s lot in life. I also liked how Jobe was initially portrayed as a victim, so everyone sympathizes with him. But when he actually gets power, he’s not at all a sympathetic character. Reminds me of a quote from Camus: “innocence is virtue untested.” Jobe starts out innocent due to his retardation. But once he loses his innocence, Jobe proves to be far from virtuous. Not surprising given the way people treated him, but a neat portrayal nonetheless.
October 20th, 2013 at
Also, it’s worth noting that the movie had a $10 million budget (according to imdb) and is based on a Stephen King story. I found the special effects to be terrible when I re-watched it recently, but I think they stretched their dime pretty well given the year it was made and the relatively small budget.