A 1992 movie that, hard though it might seem to believe thirty years later, once seemed pretty cool. Initially titled STEPHEN KING’S THE LAWNMOWER MAN, and supposedly based on King’s story of the same name (previously adapted as a “Dollar Baby” short), it was actually taken from a screenplay called CYBER GOD, and retitled after King sued New Line (which also removed the “Based on a story by Stephen King” credit that appeared in the initial prints).
…taken from a screenplay called CYBER GOD, and retitled after King sued New Line (which also removed the “Based on a story by Stephen King” credit that appeared in the initial prints).
The $6 million budgeted film, in any event, was a surprise hit, amassing a worldwide gross of $200 million. Inevitably a straight-to-video LAWNMOWER MAN 2 appeared in 1996, and that film is pretty much as you’d expect given that it lacks the cast and director of its predecessor. That cast included Pierce Brosnan, still struggling after leaving TV’s REMINGTON STEELE (his debut as James Bond was still three years away), B-movie stalwart Jeff Fahey and 80s hottie Jenny Wright, and the director was Brett Leonard, who was coming off THE DEAD PIT (1989) and would go on to helm the high-profile horror-fests HIDEAWAY and VIRTUOSITY (both 1995).
The latter film is known for its not-very-invigorating exploration of virtual reality; as David Cronenberg stated in 1999, “Previous film forays into VR were pretty awful. Nobody wanted to make another VIRTUOSITY.” Virtual reality was a hot topic in the nineties, as evidenced by that film, JOHNNY MNEMONIC, THE MATRIX and Cronenberg’s eXistenZ. THE LAWNMOWER MAN beat them all to the punch with its story of a mentally impaired lawnmower man transformed, CHARLY-like, into a genius by VR.
Said lawnmower man is Jobe (Fahey), and the architect of his transformation is Lawrence (Brosnan), a scientist who works for a shadowy organization known as the Shop (a Stephen King shout-out, FYI). Tired of using chimps as testing subjects for his VR experiments, Lawrence turns to Jobe, plying him with intelligence-enhancing drugs and virtual reality immersion—which in this film entails getting dressed up in bodysuits that are straight out of TRON (1982). In so doing Jobe does indeed becomes smarter, using his newfound intelligence to bed a local seductress (Wright) and get revenge on his enemies, who include a sadistic priest and the abusive father of Jobe’s young friend Peter (LAST ACTION HERO’s Austin O’Brien). Lawrence, realizing his experiment has gotten out of hand, attempts to reign Jobe in but can’t, resulting in a climax that sees Lawrence teaming up with Peter and his mother to blow up the Shop’s headquarters.
Inevitably a straight-to-video LAWNMOWER MAN 2 appeared in 1996…
All this seemed passable back in ‘92. Yes, the performances, particularly that of Fahey (who imbues Jobe with every halfwit movie cliché imaginable, the ever-present vacant grin in particular), were always shockingly inept, just as the underlit visuals (by future TITANIC cinematographer Russell Carpenter) were always cut-rate, and the narrative obnoxiously implausible and derivative (of the aforementioned CHARLY and New Line’s favored NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET franchise, with virtual reality essentially taking the place of the dreams that powered those pics).
Yes, the performances, particularly that of Fahey (who imbues Jobe with every halfwit movie cliché imaginable, the ever-present vacant grin in particular), were always shockingly inept…
Where the film excelled once upon a time was in its depiction of virtual reality, which took the form of elaborate digital animation that seemed quite impressive in its day. Now, of course, that animation is laughably primitive (this is what VR looks like?), leaving a movie with, frankly, nothing worth recommending. I’d rather watch VIRTUOSITY again.
Vital Statistics
THE LAWNMOWER MAN
New Line Cinema
Director: Brett Leonard
Producer: Gimel Everett
Screenplay: Brett Leonard, Gimel Everett
Cinematography: Russell Carpenter
Editing: Alan Baumgarten
Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Jeff Fahey, Jenny Wright, Mark Bringelson, Geoffrey Lewis, Jeremy Slate, Dean Norris, Colleen Coffey, Jim Landis, Troy Evans, Rosalee Mayeux, Austin O’Brien, Michael Gregory, Joe Hart, John Laughlin, Ray Lykins, Michael Valverde, Dale Raoul