Stephen King's 'The Langoliers'

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Cast

Patricia Wettig
as Laurel Stevenson

Bronson Pinchot
as Craig Toomy

Dean Stockwell
as Bob Jenkins

Kate Maberly
as Dinah Bellman

Mark Lindsay Chapman
as Nick Hopewell

Christopher Collet
as Albert Kaussner

Kimber Riddle
as Bethany Simms

Frankie Faison
as Don Gaffney

David Morse
as Capt. Brian Engle

Baxter Harris
as Rudy Warwick

John Griesemer
as Roger Toomy

Julie Arnold Lisnet
as Aunt Vicki

Michael Louden
as Richard Logan

Kymberly Dakin
as Doris Heartman

David Forrester
as Danny Keene

Chris Hendrie
as James Deegan

Jennifer Nichole Porter
as Gate Agent

Tom Holland
as Harker

Stephen King
as Tom Holby

David Kelly
as Little Boy

Stephanie Dunham
as Little Girl

John Winthrop Philbrick
as Father

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Critic Reviews for Stephen King's 'The Langoliers'

Audience Reviews for Stephen King's 'The Langoliers'

• May 01, 2015

  10 people woke up on their plane realising they are the only people left, everyone else has vanished. They realised they've landed in a misplaced dimension and they are not alone... An excellent TV movie in my opinion, seems a bit melodramatic but was interesting enough to kept me engaged. Stephen King fans would love it.
  

  Sylvester K Super Reviewer
• Jan 29, 2012

  If there is something of a blessing and a curse with Stephen King, it would have to be the trend of people taking his novels and short stories and turning them into numerous films and mini-series. This is a blessing because it gets his work out their into the masses, making him well known among the common people. It is a curse due to how terrible most of these are. With adapting King's work, unless you really know what you are doing (ex. Brian de Palma and Stanley Kubrick), you will destroy and crash the project. This has happened many time and bound to happen even more. With the case of The Langoliers, this is a mix bag. It is not good, but it is bad in the 'so bad it is good' stance. This is one of the few short stories of King's I have not yet read, but after this film, it makes me want to read it so I can see how King had the story in mind. The basic idea of the film is that a group of people are trapped on an airplane with most of the passengers have disappeared like in Left Behind. The idea is one that has been used before, but with how it is presented on film does leave things questionable with Tom Holland's directing. Honestly, he could have made this film a bit shorter than it already is. He uses the three hours to develop that characters, but the problem is that we never truly care about what happens to any of them. I did not care if they were going to be right, if they were going to die, etc. Holland is known for making some okay horror comedies, but this film he does not do that good of a job with. Quite sad due to how much this film has as potential. The acting, I don't know if this was on purpose, is funny as crap. Everyone is overacting, no one is taking this film seriously, and it is just hilarious to see everyone try to act serious about a situation that is illogical and not that well thought out. But, the actor that just steals the show is Bronson Pinchot. I never seen an actor who overreacts, over does his lines, and raises his voice so high it sounds like his balls were chopped off. He is simply fantastic at being terrible in this film. Kate Maberly does a note worthy job in this film playing a blind girl throughout this film. While it is not a perfect performance (there are times when you know that she is faking), it is mediocre and better than most of the stale performance throughout the film. I might be a bit harsh on this film, seeing as how I have never read the original story, but this film is not really that good as a film or miniseries. In a critical sense. The acting is kind of trash, the direction is confusing at times, and the script should have been rewritten about a few hundred times. But, I still like this film because it is fun, enjoyable, and funny as crap in so many ways it is unrealistic. Everything from the over the top acting to the terrible script works as a comedy. Taken a black comedy, but a comedy none the less. If you go into this film looking for a serious Stephen King Horror story, you will be disappointed. Go into this with a comedic mind. You will get far more out of it. Even more out of Bronson Pinchot's performance.
  

  Zach B Super Reviewer
• Dec 24, 2011

  Starting off strong, The Langoliers ratchets up a surprisingly powerful batch of suspense in the form of a genuinely compelling supernatural mystery. Things get bad when the CG effects show their age, and the illusion is completely shattered during the film's final acts. It's a film I immediately wanted to like, if only for the interplay between the characters and 'rule nothing out' nature of the premise. The plot itself reminds me of the kinds of stories me and my friends would make up when we were little, sitting in the front yard late in the afternoons after school. It's a film with an imagination, hampered from flight due to some poor script choices. The dialogue gets a little too saccharine at the very end, with a cringe worthy still frame shot that all but shatters the serious nature of the beginning of the film. I've noticed, being a huge Stephen King fan myself, that when he's involved with the teleplay, screen play, production, whatever- it tends to get a bit hammy. This 'hammy' trend would become a staple in almost every single one of his books after 2002. His son, writing under the pen name 'Joe Hill', writes with the hard edge that King used to have, and draws to light a strange dichotomy in King Senior's before and after approach to tale telling. Even if it gets a little too cheesy, The Langoliers is pretty entertaining and not without some commendable pros. For one, The Langoliers is ambitious for what it is, and the fact that it mostly succeeds, with some better than what you would expect actors involved, its a very likeable effort.
  Paris S Super Reviewer
• Mar 30, 2011

  A 1990s mini series of a stephen king novel. looking really early 90s dated now. and some suspect acting throughout. the story is interesting enough and does sustain its running time, although no visual flare whatsoever to speak of doesent help, and some really crappy effects along the way, and i really mean crappy, check out the take off scene. and its funny now going back to the days of tv movies being shot in 4.3. but thats the sign of those days not film itself. overall a typical king film, with flaws throughout. onec final thing, check out the end shot, a typical freeze frame you had back in the 80s and 90s, its so funny and out of place
  scott g Super Reviewer

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