K-PAX
"Keeps You Guessing Right To The End!" -Bill Diehl, ABC Radio
Two-time Academy Award® winner Kevin Spacey and Academy Award® nominee Jeff Bridges star in this spellbinding, often humorous story of a mysterious stranger who defies convention, puzzles the experts and leaves everyone searching for the truth.
A stranger who calls himself Prot (Spacey) seemingly appears out of nowhere following a disturbance at New York's Grand Central Station. Claiming to come from the distant planet K-PAX, Prot draws the attention of jaded Dr. Powell (Bridges), whose initial skepticism soon turns to fascination and amazement. Even a team of leading scientists are at a loss to explain Prot's detailed knowledge of the star system he calls home. But with Prot's return to K-PAX fast approaching, the search for answers intensifies and the mystery takes on pulse-quickening proportions.
Featuring unforgettable performances and surprising turns, it's a thrilling story that "Keeps you guessing right to the end!" (ABC Radio)
Member Reviews
Starman Revisited - MovieMaker
Jeff Bridges ("John Carpenter's Starman") is a psychiatrist with likely the toughest case of his career: a man (Kevin Spacey) who is obviously mentally delusional believing that he is a visitor from a far away galaxy, becomes more and more convincing as Bridge's seeks to uncover the truth in order to help him. Bridges is awesome, and I'd take him as my psychiatrist any day. Kevin Spacey is...well, Kevin Spacey, and replacing him with another actor seems impossible after watching him. The problem lies in the last third of the film. We have started to believe the evidence supporting Prott's (Spacey's) claims, but an unexpected reaction to a sprinkler leads the psychiatrist on a mission to unearth the very earthly identity of the human behind the madness. What happens is the film splits. The ending can be taken as either a miracle beyond science or a triumph of psychiatry. I'm not sure whether it would have been better to stick to the miracle or not. But I wish there was a clue left to the audience, a wink, something that tells us there's more to life than simple denial or repression.Excellent Movie With Excellent Performances - revsdd
Expecting a fairly hokey sci-fi adventure, instead I discovered this to be a thought-provoking adventure that kept me guessing all the way through about the real identity of Prot - and that still has me guessing even after I've seen the movie. That to me is the mark of a truly good movie. Usually I'm left somewhat empty by loose ends that aren't tied up, but in this case the uncertainty seemed appropriate and added to the overall high quality of the movie.
The performances were of generally high quality. I've always thought that Kevin Spacey was a decent enough actor - albeit one who in my opinion has not always chosen the best vehicles to showcase his talents and who has fallen into a pattern of playing emotionally challenged characters. The character of Prot certainly has elements of that pattern but Prot is also a very different kind of character for Spacey, and I thought that he handled the challenges of basically playing two characters in one (I won't say any more about that so as not to spoil anything) extremely well. Jeff Bridges also surprised me with what I thought was one of the better performances I've ever seen him offer as Dr. Powell, the psychiatrist charged with sorting out the mystery surrounding Prot.
The story is well written, well developed and very interesting. It's main weakness comes at the very beginning. I wasn't entirely sure why it was that Prot would have been taken into custody at the train station. True, the police originally thought he had mugged the old lady, but in truth he hadn't done anything, there were witnesses saying that he hadn't done anything and the old lady confirmed that he hadn't done anything. Why take him into custody? Because he had caused no trouble? Sure, he was a bit unusual and had no I.D. but - this is New York City for goodness' sake! That's reason to put someone into a psych ward? That struck me as a bit far-fetched, but otherwise, this truly was superb.One of the most underrated films of the past decade - Vampenguin
Due to a very misleading advertising campaign, I saw this film in theatres at the relatively young age of 10. The trailers on TV portrayed the film as a comedy, and I bugged my parents until they took me. After seeing the movie, I was blown away. I had no idea what to think. Totally different than anything I had seen before, leaving far to many questions for such a young mind. Needless to say, I loved it. This morning was the first time I'd watched in in probably 2-3 years, and I still think it's one of the greatest films made in the last decade. Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges are both in top form, as a mysterious man who may or may not be from another planet, and the psychiatrist that develops a bond with him while trying to decipher his mystery. The supporting cast are near perfect as well, each resident of the mental institution is incredibly convincing in their own way. The open ending was handled very well, giving lots of evidence to support whatever you believe happened in the end. How this movie failed to receive at least a nomination in that year's Oscars is beyond me. If you haven't seen this film, run to Wal-Mart RIGHT NOW. The DVD is usually in the bargain bin, pick it up!
9.5/10
Member Reviews
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Starman Revisited - MovieMaker
Jeff Bridges ("John Carpenter's Starman") is a psychiatrist with likely the toughest case of his career: a man (Kevin Spacey) who is obviously mentally delusional believing that he is a visitor from a far away galaxy, becomes more and more convincing as Bridge's ...Excellent Movie With Excellent Performances - revsdd
Expecting a fairly hokey sci-fi adventure, instead I discovered this to be a thought-provoking adventure that kept me guessing all the way through about the real identity of Prot - and that still has me guessing even after I've seen the movie. That to me is ...One of the most underrated films of the past decade - Vampenguin
Due to a very misleading advertising campaign, I saw this film in theatres at the relatively young age of 10. The trailers on TV portrayed the film as a comedy, and I bugged my parents until they took me. After seeing the movie, I was blown away. I had no ...