Matthew Modine retraces the steps of Oscar-winner Cliff Robertson in the role of a gentle man with a very low IQ in this remake of the 1968 movie, Charly. Charlie Gordon's (Modine) life is dramatically changed when he takes part in an experiment to raise his intelligence temporarily. It works - but his new-found wisdom aggravates his workplace colleagues. After a romance with his teacher (Kelli Williams) Charlie finds himself regressing to his former dim-witted state. If not up to Robertson's original interpretation of the hero of Daniel Keyes' novel, Modine does well with his complicated, changing character in a touching TV movie on a somewhat controversial scientific theme. Algernon, by the way, is a lab rat.

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