The makeup is great. No one can deny that. It's impressive watching Robert John Burke's transformation from morbidly obese to painfully thin. The various makeup effects on the other affected characters are also impressive. So if you watch a movie for the makeup - don't miss this one. The problem is that few if any people watch a movie for the makeup. We watch for the story; the performances. On those scores, "Thinner" disappoints. It's based on a Stephen King story. I've seen a few film adaptations of King stories. Some are good, some not so much. This is included in the latter group.Burke plays an obese lawyer named Billy Halleck who accidentally kills a gypsy woman in a traffic accident, and her father takes revenge by placing a gypsy curse on him that causes him to lose weight rapidly. At first it seems fine. He's been trying unsuccessfully to lose weight, and now he is. But it quickly becomes clear that something is wrong. He eats and eats and eats more than he ever did - and he still loses weight. His relationship with his wife and daughter suffer and he becomes desperate to find the gypsy who put the curse on him so that he can convince him (either by begging or by force) to remove it.But this movie lacks spark. At times it's silly (yeah - it's about a gypsy curse, so what would you expect?) But overall it just didn't connect with me. The cast isn't especially well known. The best known cast members are Michael Constantine as the gypsy man and Joe Mantegna as a mobster who helps Billy do battle with the gypsies. The performances aren't bad - but they're outshone by the makeup. I also found the ending kind of disappointing. But there's still the makeup! Can't beat the makeup! (4/10)

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.

I have yet to read the book.I didn't I had seen this movie before but as I got hear the end of the movie.I did remember that last few scenes fro years back , which I forgot about.So that already tells you it a forgettable movie I did like some of the make up effects to make him look k ThinnerThe fat make up was to much and found it looked far to fake , it actually looked really bad The acting in this was really good.I didn't really liked how the movie ended at all, I don't know if story Ended I the same way.I found that Really silly way to end it

OK, I have to say this first: the acting was deplorable. From the lead actors on down it was just absurdly bad. Half the actors seemed like they were on some type of uppers and the other half were just set pieces. The lead actor, Robert John Burke, got better as he got thinner. As funny as that may sound, it's true.As for the story, it was OK. The concept was mildly interesting but the execution was poor. Billy Halleck (Robert Burke) hit and killed a gypsy woman and incurred a gypsy curse. The curse, as the title of the movie clearly states, made him thinner. The movie plodded along at 'B' level status until close to the end. Without giving anything away, I'll say that the movie became far more interesting when Billy Halleck got deathly thin.Like I said before, the story is OK but could have been done better. The first step to make the movie better is to fire the acting coach. That or shut down the acting school they all went to.