Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Adapted from the Stephen King book of the same name, Thinner is a tale of justice. 

Robert John Burke plays Billy, a man with flaws.  He's a hot-shot attorney, used to winning his cases - at any cost.  But he's also a glutton when it comes to food.  Tipping the scale at 300 pounds, with no willpower to control his eating, he's a heart attack waiting to happen.

One night, his wife gets a little frisky, in the car.  Sadly, I don't mean while parked in a lovers' lane, I mean while Billy's driving.  His attention - um - diverted for a moment, he accidentally hits and kills an old gypsy woman.  Billy takes no responsibility for this woman's death, and the local townsfolk rally together to make sure he's protected.  He walks away scot-free, the incident over, as far as he's concerned.

But it's not over for the victim's father, who rightly feels that justice was not served.  Thus he employs his own brand of justice - he touches Billy's face and says just one word - thinner.  The curse placed on Billy, he starts to lose weight.  At an alarming rate, and despite his voracious eating. 

Billy realizes he will die pretty soon, if he can't get the curse removed.  Thus the rest of the movie revolves around Billy's search for the old man, and his attempts to convince him (using whatever means possible) to remove the curse.

While the tale could be considered quite dark, in fact the movie is light.  Almost "cheesy" in its appearance, if you caught a quick glimpse of it, you might think you were watching a sitcom or a made-for-tv movie. 

As far as the special effects go, I have to say that half of them were phenomenal.  That is to say, that having a man go from 300 pounds to barely over 100 is not a simple feat.  They did a much better job with the "skinny" part, than the fat part.  The fat part looks ridiculously fake.  Almost comical, in fact.  The fat suit is reasonable, but the face looks like a cartoon.  Let's just say you'll know immediately that you're looking at a fake, rather than at a real fat person.  On the other hand, the skinny part of the effect was pretty amazing.  The hollow cheekbones and the sallow complexion were quite realistic-looking.

The main performances were pretty good.  I enjoyed watching Burke's transformation, both physical and psychological, as the curse takes its hold. Especially as he goes from initial joy at his diet's sudden "success" to slow understanding that he's going to die.  I also enjoyed Joe Mantegna, as Billy's friend, and cohort, when it comes to tracking down the old man, and trying to force him to do their bidding.  Finally, I have to mention Michael Constantine who played the old man - what a great job he did!

I did have a few problems with the script, but of course this is really the fault of the book's author, and the attempts of the movie to follow the book so closely.  Had they changed the script to make me happy, then they would have been faulted for changing the book too much, so there's really no winning here.  Still, I have to mention that it's one thing for characters to seek, and obtain "justice".  When someone does something wrong to you or your family, it's natural to want revenge, to want to see them suffer.  But when innocents get hurt in the process, it's another thing altogether.  In this case, there's a huge number of people who suffer harm, even death, people who had nothing to do with the original transgression.  Once that starts happening, it's hard to root for the "good guys". 

Still, this is a fairly enjoyable adaptation of King's book, one that Stephen King's fans will probably enjoy. 

Recommended: Yes