Flowers for Algernon
Flowers for Algernon
NR | 20 February 2000 (USA)
Flowers for Algernon Trailers

Charlie Gordon is mentally handicapped and all he wants in life is to be a genius. When he gets picked for experimental surgery it looks like his dream may finally come true. But the surgery has side effects that could could kill Charlie. Can Charlie survive being just plain old "Charlie Gordon" and will his newfound romance survive this test of character?

Reviews
SunnyHello Nice effects though.
Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful
Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.
Jemima It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.
Christian Thornell This film comes from a fantastic novel dealing with the subject of human intelligence, and it does it justice. There are people I know who did not at all like this film, others are blown out of their mind frames. I think the difference lies in understanding the films premise. The plot handles a mentally ill man becoming smart, and the effects of that, what he learns, but perhaps more importantly what we as an audience can learn from his experience. It is valued greatly in our world of being stuffed with knowledge, but another source of intelligence is being shaded, which is that of the heart, of compassion, innocence and love. This film explores the importance of both, the result of just one, and I believe it also poses you the question... if you had to choose, which one would you choose?There is a great introduction to this film on youtube that deals with this subject. I recommend watching that before seeing the film to get the most out of it!For myself... I cried my heart out and changed my perception of what is important in life. That to me is worth an 8. Yet there are some 10s out there too.
doogee This story, from Daniel Keyes wonderful novel, brings to the screen a brilliant performance by one of our finest actors, Matthew Modine. With subtle, simple strokes, Modine paints the painful journey of Clarlie Gordon from simple, kind, loving soul, to angry, confused genius. Not a simple journey for an actor to make in a two hour movie of the week. Modine is the reason to watch but you can also enjoy the very sweet performance of Kellie Williams and the always strong Ron
Xophianic I already knew the story behind FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON before I saw the TV movie. I've always thought the story was, although maybe a little sad, a pretty interesting story. And I really like the way it was written when I read it, through the eyes of Charlie and his journal. I had once seen a very old version of FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON movie based on the book. As I recall, the acting was horrible and the movie was badly presented, but it was ok because it was true to the book. This one is the opposite. It's still very good, but it has good acting and was presented well, but is a little less similar to the book.Charlie Gordan (Matthew Modine) is a retarded gentleman who wants more than anything to learn and be a genius. He attends regular classes for special people taught by the beautiful Alice Kinian (Kelli Williams). When Dr. Strauss (Ron Rifkin) is testing an operation that can make mentally retarded people incredibly smart, Alice sets Charlie up for it as a test. Charlie becomes incredibly smart, with an IQ over 200, but is very unhappy when he realizes that this whole time his so-called "friends" were actually mocking him behind his back. Just as he starts to find happiness when he falls in love with Alice, and Alice falls in love with him, he learns that the effects of the operation are only temporary and has to try his hardest to learn how to stop from becoming retarded again.This movie lacks a few things from the original. One is that it is not presented through the viewpoint of Charlie's journal, of course. This couldn't have been done, but it was a lot better from that viewpoint. Algernon, the mouse that was another test for this operation that Charlie makes friends with, is underplayed. It's strange to say a mouse was underplayed, but it's true. Considering that Algernon is in the title, this is strange. The beginning of this movie is also kind of rushed and can be confusing if you didn't already know the story.But the solid acting and great dramatic scenes make up for all the faults. Matthew Modine does great as both the stupid and smart Charlie Gordan. Kelli Williams certainly stole the show. Whether she was crying or laughing, the emotions seemed so real. She did an excellent job.One thing that I found very strange was that many places, even this database, listed this movie as a comedy. It's no comedy. What are we expected to laugh at? The ignorant retarded people? Do you find that funny? I sure didn't. This movie is way more of a drama with an interesting plot. It's certainly not a comedy.I'd recommend reading the original story above seeing this movie. But if it came down to a choice between this one and the older movie based on the same story, I'd choose this one in a heartbeat. If it's ever on TV again, it's certainly worth watching.
hawktwo I was surprised to surf into this movie last week. I remembered the wonderful job Cliff Robertson had achieved in the same role -- movie was called Charly -- and for which he received an Oscar.Matthew Modine managed to quite believably transform himself into the various personas for this movie -- a very demanding role. At times he even physically seemed to be different persons. Based on this movie, I think he is very under-used and under-rated.