Absolutely brilliant

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Blistering performances.

There's only one word that keeps coming to mind when I think of The Lawnmower Man....creative! Very creative, imaginative movie. And Jeff Faheys performance as Jobe, holy hotcakes, he knocked it out of the park! So what are the downfalls of The Lawnmower Man, I mean, certainly, there has to be some reason why this film is ranking at such a low level. Can you overlook the cheesy CGI? Can you overlook some of the choppy sequences? And can you please overlook that this was a short story by Stephen King. ( Stephen King, uh, you should have been thanking them, instead of suing them, I mean, this movie was not that bad. They even made a reference to Firestarter for you, you know, the whole Shop thing, oh, your a hard man to please, aren't you, King?) For myself, I thought the movie was not bad at all. You'll need some patience, that's about it. The good stuff doesn't happen until about the last 45 minutes, but that's okay, because the film does a decent job of telling a smooth, compelling tell up until then. The last 45 minutes, it's as if the dam breaks loose, and suddenly everything is coming apart at the seams, everything happening so fast. This is what I mean by choppy, it was once a solid, smooth tale, and now its rushing a few things here and there. Can I forgive? Sure! This was made all the way back in 1992, we arguably still made good movies then, so given its time period, I think this stood out very well. ( And it really did. If you look, this movie did not bomb, despite the bad reviews. It got its money back. It was successful. Nobody wants to talk about that.) When we finally get to the, uh, scenes where Jobe gets his revenge, two of them left me with the "what the puck" moment. The lawnmower scene makes up for the two of those scenes put together! Forgiven. So the verdict is in: Great story, powerhouse performance from Jeff, imaginative, inventive stuff going on here, bizarre, weird film, we will call it unique here, keep my attention even past the two hour mark, and a goosebump, hair raising, chilling ending to it all. I give it 7 out of 10. Did, uh, the rest of you boneheads who rate this watch the same movie, or what?

The Lawnmower Man (1992) ** (out of 4) Lawrence Angelo (Pierce Brosnan) is a scientist who is experimenting with virtual reality. He decides to try his experiment on a mentally challenged man named Jobe (Jeff Fahey) and before long he turns into a genius. Of course, being from Stephen King, Jobe eventually begins to suffer a breakdown and soon chaos breaks out.When I first watched this movie in theaters I honestly didn't care too much about it. For some reason I ended up watching it a second time and cared for it even less. Then it hit DVD and I tried the film again and still, you guessed it, I didn't like it. The film has now been released on a Special Edition Blu-ray so for some reason I checked it out again and believe it or not I actually think it has aged somewhat well.It's funny but at the time the film was released the only thing people were talking about were the special effects. The CGI effects on display here were quite new for the era but I think it's safe to say they haven't held up as well as some other famous "CGI" movies out there. With that said, the effects are still somewhat creative and I think the virtual reality sequences are rather good for what they are. The direction of the effects were at least good and these images at least keep you somewhat entertained.The problem with the film is that you're basically watching a rather cheap horror movie that doesn't have too much to say. I'm not sure if the much longer Director's Cut is better or not but the theatrical version seems very long at its 106-minute running time. The film really drags at times and there's no suspense to be had and there's really not too much of a connection to the character. It's cool seeing Brosnan before his James Bond days but he's rather bland here. Fahey actually does a good job with the role of the slow Jobe and he's believable in this aspect of the character as well as when he becomes smarter.THE LAWNMOWER MAN isn't an awful movie but it's a rather boring mess that just never really comes together.

When I first saw this film, I didn't like it. But then a part of went "Maybe I should watch it again from a different point of view."I enjoyed it a lot more this time, but it still has it's flaws:The opening where the chimp escapes and we just see the top of the back of its helmet. The fella with the dodgy Irish accent. How can you tell he's Irish? Cos he's drinking! You American bastards!Jobe looks like a cartoon character from the beginning. He's looks like Harry from Dumb and Dumber.The beginning where Dr Angelo wakes up from his nightmare, he lights a cigarette and wakes his wife up by blowing smoke in her face. What a prick. Also in that scene, he sees the next door neighbour abuse his wife and son. This is supposed to take place in the middle of the night and yet these people are still up and are not in their pyjamas. Now that I got that out of the way, here's the stuff I do like from this movie:The concept of turning a not very bright man into a very smart man and he gets too addicted to intelligence. The oh-so-90's futuristic sets. The 90's computer graphics.Jeff Fahey was just great as Jobe.The 90's-ness makes this film work for me. There's a lot of great cheesy movies from the 80's and there's certainly a lot from the 90's.If they ever make a special edition Blu-ray, they should interview Jeff Fahey (no need to interview the rest of the cast, there isn't that much to say about their characters), the production designer and the director who was in charge of the computer graphics.As a sci-fi thriller, it is not as intelligent as Twelve Monkeys, but enjoyable if you like cheesy 90's movies.

THE LAWNMOWER MAN, a virtual reality-based sci-fi thriller supposedly based on a short story by Stephen King (although in reality it has nothing to do with it) is the perfect definition of a dated film. The entire premise of the film is reliant on then-cutting edge technology involving computer generated characters and VR, and of course today it looks laughable. JURASSIC PARK came out a year later and also dealt with cutting edge technology yet it hasn't dated at all, so I guess the difference is down to the budget.This is one of those films that's mildly entertaining in places and that's about it. It's a passable slice of entertainment, neither particularly good nor particularly bad, instead occupying a place in the middle of the road as with so many films. It has its good points, and the best of those is the consistently underrated Jeff Fahey, a man who's spent his life enhancing B-movies with many a decent performance.The narrative is about a simpleton who gradually transforms into a genius, and the journey there is fairly interesting, enlivened by a quirky turn from Jenny Wright as a love interest. But Pierce Brosnan's scientist lead is a bit of a bore and Brosnan gives one of those diffident performances that blight his career. Not to mention that Geoffrey Lewis is wasted while Austin O'Brien (the kid from LAST ACTION HERO) gets way too much screen time.By the end, of course, it all becomes rather overblown and over the top, complete with maniacal villainy and pyrotechnic effects. B-movie director Brett Leonard also handled two films I hated (HIDEAWAY and HIGHLANDER: THE SOURCE), along with a movie I was indifferent to (VIRTUOSITY) and I'm in the latter camp with THE LAWNMOWER MAN; it's one of those films that deserves to be forgotten except by the most dedicated sci-fi fans.