365 Days. 365 Films.

Based on the novel by Stephen King, Thinner is about an obese lawyer who accidentally runs over an old gypsy woman while receiving a blow job in his car. He is then cursed by the gypsy’s father to lose weight, which doesn’t sound like such a bad curse, until he realises that he cannot stop the weight loss no matter how much he eats and that it will eventually kill him. He is then forced to ask for assistance from a friend in the mafia to find the gypsy’s father and get him to lift the curse.

I did not know the premise of the film before I sat down and watched this, but about halfway through it dawned on me that Stephen King can actually create a story out of the simplest and sometimes weak ideas. I am not trying to criticise Stephen King – I think that he is a brilliant writer and the novel is probably a hell of a lot better than the film, but let’s face it – he doesn’t really need a great idea to write a great novel, which is something that perhaps makes him stand out from the crowd. This film, however, is unfortunately not as good as King’s writing. It is bordering on bad/average – I didn’t exactly hate it and on a very shallow level I guess I kind of enjoyed it.
It’s not a film I would recommend because it’s a roller coaster of okay and bad bits, but simply for the weak storyline – sorry, Stephen – I’m only giving it 2 stars.