This movie is an adaptation of the Richard Bachman novel of the same name. As far as sticking to the book, it does a good job, but with that being said, it's still a pretty bad movie.
The first thing you'll notice is that the makeup effects aren't all that good. The "fat" effects used on Robert John Burke, who plays Billy Halleck, our "hero", are rather blatantly fake. I know, it's unhealthy to have an actor legitimately gain and then lose such a drastic amount of weight, but the make up and suits to make the cast of Friends looked much better and that was with the budget of a sitcom.
The plot follows the aforementioned Billy Halleck, an overweight lawyer who has recently successfully acquitted a crime boss (played by Joe Mantegna). Meanwhile, his family expresses great concern for his health and insist on putting him on a strict diet.
After a celebratory dinner, his wife decides to get a little frisky on the ride home. Suffice it to say, Billy gets a bit distracted and doesn't notice when an old gypsy woman bolts in front of the car. He makes a last ditch effort to slam on the brakes, but it's too late. She gets decked by the car and dies.
Billy pulls some strings and he gets off without any charge whatsoever. The gypsies aren't too happy about this, and in true gypsy fashion, they put a curse on him. They really don't mess around when it comes to curses do they? I mean, they cursed Angel and this guy (those were justified as it was payback for another death). I guess it beats being condemned for simply denying a gypsy a bank loan.
By merely touching his cheek and uttering the word, "thinner" Billy finds himself in a losing race with a deteriorating physique. No matter how much he eats, he finds that he's shedding pounds off on a daily basis.
Given the situation, you would think that this would make for a thought provoking film. I mean, neither side was really in the wrong. The gypsy woman's death really was an accident (not to mention that she does take some share of the blame, bolting out into the road without really looking) and you would think that the loss would evoke some sympathy for the family. While both sides are presented equally, it's only in the sense that they both suck.
The lawyer's a sleazy schmuck and the gypsies come off like a bunch of deranged a-holes. By the end of the movie, you'll find yourself hating all of them. Even minor characters end up proving themselves either racist or misogynistic. If you're the type of movie goer who likes having a likable character to relate to, you're not gonna find it here. The closest you're going to get is the daughter, and she isn't really in the movie all that much.
The only strong performance comes from Mantegna, who usually does do good work, but even he gets saddled with some awful dialogue. The closest this movie comes to a crowning moment of awesome is when Billy sicks Mantegna's character on the gypsy camp and he unleashes hell.
Of course, the gypsies act all shocked and mortified at the attack. Billy flat out told you that unless you took the curse off that he was going to make you pay and you laugh at him, and then proceed to maim him. OK, they couldn't have known of his mob connections, but did they really think he was going to take that sitting down?
The performances are sub-par, the script is weak, and the characters aren't sympathetic. The score isn't bad though; there were some scenes where it really carried the drama of the various confrontations between characters and it was actually pretty effective. Beyond that, this movie just isn't very good. I wouldn't recommend it.
So, what's the moral of the story? You may be asking yourself...umm..don't mess with gypsies? I don't know.
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