The 1992 movie The Lawnmower Man is adapted from Stephen King's short story but changes the story so much that the two works have nothing in common. King's short story appeared in the publication Cavalier in the spring of 1975 and was republished in Night Shift, King's book of short stories from 1978. There is also a video game and sequel, Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyperspace from 1996.
Stephen King sued New Line Cinema because the movie doesn't actually tell the original story that he wrote and he didn't want the movie to be called Stephen King's The Lawnmower Man. King won in 1994. The Lawnmower Man does use Stephen King's storyline or even any of his characters. What went wrong with this sci-fi movie?
What Is The Lawnmower Man About?
The Lawnmower Man is about Dr. Larry Angelo (Pierce Brosnan) who does several experiments on Jobe Smith (Jeff Fahey), a man who has an intellectual disability. Dr. Angelo claims that this work will make Jobe smarter, but Jobe ends up becoming a much crueler person. Like in many stories written by Stephen King, Jobe has telepathic and psychokinetic powers.
Dr. Angelo realizes that Jobe has changed the plan when Jobe says that he wants to essentially become part of the computer so he can take over the world. The rest of The Lawnmower Man becomes a battle between these two characters. In contrast to the short story, which is about a lawnmower cutting grass all on its own, the movie becomes a generic tale of technology.
The Firestarter remake was one of the worst sci-fi movies of 2022 and The Lawnmower Man features a main character who has similar powers. Both movies fail to engage the audience or tell a unique story. Since many horror and sci-fi movies feature characters who can move things with their mind or control the world around them, Jobe doesn't stand out.
How Is The Movie Different From Stephen King's Short Story?
The Lawnmower Man is very different from the short story that Stephen King wrote. It's about Harold Parkette who hires a company called Pastoral Greenery to mow his lawn. He's enjoying some quiet time with a newspaper and hears the sound of a lawnmower, realizing that it's mowing the lawn without any human operating it. The employee isn't wearing any clothes and is eating grass and walking after it on all fours. Harold is so startled and freaked out that he passes out.
The worst movies based on Stephen King's work don't feel as fascinating and brilliant as his novels, novellas and short stories do. King has an incredible way with words and really sets the scene and paints a picture, no matter what he's writing about. While The Lawnmower Man movie isn't great, King's short story is fast-paced and never fells dull for one moment.
The Lawnmower Man short story becomes terrifying when the man says that this is a fresh way of cutting grass and if people don't like it and think that it's cool and innovative, they will be killed. When Harold phones the cops later on, the lawnmower man says he works for Pan, the ancient god, and then kills him. No one ever finds out what happened.
It's hard to say that The Lawnmower Man film is an underrated movie based on a short story because it completely changes the story. The movie adaptation fails because it doesn't have anything to do with lawnmowers. Instead, it becomes a generic sci-fi story about humans vs. Machines and it doesn't say anything new or interesting.
How Does The Lawnmower Man End?
While there are some great Blumhouse horror movies about technology, these films are so much more entertaining than The Lawnmower Man. Jobe is able to achieve his goal of being a digital being in the VSI mainframe and no longer being human. Dr. Angelo tries to get rid of Jobe and puts several bombs in the building after making sure that Jobe is stuck in the computer. Jobe and Angelo face off in the computer and Jobe wins this round. Jobe tells Dr. Angelo to save Peter Parkette (Austin O'Brien), his ten-year-old friend, when Peter shows up.
Jobe is able to get back into the real world and save himself from dying in the bomb. The final scene of The Lawnmower Man sees Dr. Angelo sitting in his house with Carla (Rosalee Mayeux) and Carla's son Peter. Soon, one phone rings and then every single phone that exists globally begins ringing. This makes it clear that Jobe achieved what he wanted.
This corny ending proves that The Lawnmower Man isn't worth revisiting. It's another example of a sci-fi TV show and movie with confusing technology and characters who feel like stereotypes rather than real people. The Lawnmower Man can definitely be skipped.