The Lawnmower Man

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The Lawnmower Man

R

Released Mar 6, 1992

1h 48m

Sci-Fi

Horror

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Popcornmeter

36%

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42 Reviews

31%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

The eccentric Dr. Lawrence Angelo puts mentally disabled landscaper Jobe Smith on a regimen of experimental pills and computer-simulated training sequences in hopes of augmenting the man's intelligence. In time, Jobe becomes noticeably brighter and also begins to fare much better with the opposite sex. As he develops psychic powers, he realizes that those around him have taken advantage of his simplicity his whole life, and he plots a bloody revenge.

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Critics Consensus

The Lawnmower Man suffers from a predictable, melodramatic script, and its once-groundbreaking visual effects look dated today.

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Anton Bitel

Little White Lies

While ultimately the villain, Jobe is also a victim, and his retreat into the virtual world is entirely understandable.

Jun 20, 2024

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Steven Rea

Philadelphia Inquirer

The Lawnmower Man echoes Frankenstein and a zillion other noble-scientist-whose-experiment-goes-awry movies.

Rated: 2/4

Apr 1, 2014

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Jay Boyar

Orlando Sentinel

The Lawnmower Man has it all -- melodramatic plot, bad acting, special effects that will undoubtedly seem cheesy in about five minutes and even a concluding sequence in which the usual lofty moral is voiced.

Rated: 2/5

Apr 1, 2014

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Kevin Carr

Fat Guys at the Movies

It’s cheesy and dripping in 90s silliness, but this VR thriller offers an unnerving – if not absurd – cyberthriller.

Rated: 3/4

Jan 27, 2024

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Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

…even if the story is rote, this wacky directors cut is probably the best way to appreciate the skewed, past-tense vision of our future that we get a glimpse of here…

Rated: 3/5

Jul 19, 2022

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

It's harder than ever to take Jeff Fahey's performance seriously since it's as broad as Ben Stiller's Tugg Speedman character playing Simple Jack in Tropic Thunder.

Rated: 2/4

Nov 8, 2021

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Nick E

One of the worst Stephen King adaptations.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

07/12/25

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Alexander B

This film is a sci fi/horror film about people merging with technology. Although the special effects haven't aged well and the tech featured in the movie is outdated I believe the film was ahead of its time philosophically. I would love to see a reboot.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

05/21/25

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Landon J

Oddball campy cyberpunk thriller, with some rather odd tropes. A fine enough time waster, expectations should be set fairly low though.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

04/13/25

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Josh A

No. Just... why? I wouldn't even be watching this movie if it wasn't marketed as a Stephen King adaptation, yet it barely adapts the story it's based on. This movie is a scam, is what I'm trying to say. The actual story this is based on is completely different: Harold's lawn needs mowing, a guy comes to mow his lawn, the lawnmower works on its own and is murderous, other things happen. It's got more to it than that but that's the basic summary. The actual movie is about VR where a dumb guy becomes smart through VR experiments and eventually goes out of control. It's not the most entertaining movie but it's completely different to the real story. The only real similarity is that the dumb guy has a lawnmower. And aside from the costumes and the aesthetic of the non-CGI parts, it's not a good movie either. The CGI is awful and completely takes you out of it, the story in execution is very boring and the VR simulations are basically just 90s computer games. Like, the first one is basically Doom. What a travesty of a movie. I'm never watching this again. I do not recommend this. I actively unrecommend this.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

03/16/25

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James B

Although it's nothing like it's original source material I actually quite enjoyed the lawnmower man and it's bizarre effects.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/17/25

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Cees T

Padded out King's flimsy short story with a script known as Cybergod. Not quite RoboCop or ReBoot, but fun and interesting. 8/10 - Great.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/01/25

Full Review

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Brett Leonard

Director

Jeff Fahey

Jobe Smith

Pierce Brosnan

Dr. Lawrence Angelo

Jenny Wright

Marnie Burke

Mark Bringelson

Sebastian Timms

Geoffrey Lewis

Terry McKeen

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Synopsis

The eccentric Dr. Lawrence Angelo puts mentally disabled landscaper Jobe Smith on a regimen of experimental pills and computer-simulated training sequences in hopes of augmenting the man's intelligence. In time, Jobe becomes noticeably brighter and also begins to fare much better with the opposite sex. As he develops psychic powers, he realizes that those around him have taken advantage of his simplicity his whole life, and he plots a bloody revenge.

Director: Brett Leonard
Producer: Gimel Everett
Screenwriter: Brett Leonard, Gimel Everett
Production Co: Allied Vision
Rating: R (Sensuality|Language|Violence)
Genre: Sci-Fi, Horror
Original Language: British English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 6, 1992, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 20, 2017
Runtime: 1h 48m
Sound Mix: Surround, Stereo

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