Return to the "POINTER VIEW"
                         November 2, 2001

Her Point: I knew from the moment I heard the title "K-PAX," and that its lead actors, Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges would play roles as proclaimed alien (Prot) and fanatic psychiatrist (Dr. Mark Powell) respectively, that we were going to be very richly rewarded indeed. First, let me just say that Spacey is one of the purest craftsman working in his field today. I know that he has had great writers -- in this case Charles Leavitt -- giving him the raw material, but this actor has a certain finesse with which he delivers lines that leaves one wishing we could say things that clever and sassy. Then we have the fine Bridges playing the "never give up on a patient" doctor that makes me dream of one day finding a determined, good-looking physician to prove to me that I am not from another planet. There it is in a nutshell. This guy, Prot, appears out of nowhere -- actually a train station -- wearing his signature black sunglasses and admitting that he is from another planet thousands of light years away from earth; of course this gets him locked up in a psychiatric ward. The movie is based on a novel by Gene Brewer; the writer didn’t convince me that this was the most original of ideas to come from the cosmos; yet it worked for me. I loved the conventional medical ideology and the plausibility of life from another planet "mixing it up."

His Counterpoint: Although I admit that Spacey did an admirable job of acting in "K-PAX," there were a number of aspects to this film that I found troubling. The most obvious problem with the whole plot is that the State of New York would never put someone into a lock-down psychiatric ward just because he thinks he is from another planet. In fact, the police apprehend Prot right in Grand Central Station, and anyone who has been down there in the past six months is well aware that potential aliens lurk in many corners. I could understand Prot being taken into a psyche ward for a 72-hour evaluation and some outpatient treatment, but the state locked him up for three months and shot him up with enough thorazine to make anyone believe he is a space traveler. Prot then spends most of his time treating the patients in his ward with K-PAXian mental remedies, which is ironic because he has deep issues himself that he does not bother to address. Powell focuses his efforts on finding out what traumatic event sparked the creation of Prot as an escape mechanism. That part of the plot was fine, but I could not understand why the director kept showing the interaction of Powell and his wife; I found it quite a distraction.

Her Point: Let me mention some real distractions in the movie: Casey stuffing hand fulls of greasy popcorn in his mouth while alternately scribbling in his little notebook in a packed movie house. But I still enjoyed myself immensely. Prot seems to be the answer-man of the psyche ward and gives the patients hope that one of them will be able to travel with him back to K-PAX. He carries on brilliant conversations with Powell and let us not forget the impressive explanation he gives to a group of astronomers who have just found the solar system where K-PAX is located. Prot also likes earth’s produce -- banana skin and all. Powell is convinced that he can help Prot out of his delusions and his conviction gets us believing that perhaps he isn’t from another planet after all --or is he?

His Counterpoint: The whole process of digging into Prot’s mind with hypnosis was the most annoying part of the movie for me. The audience is subjected to scene after boring scene of Prot being taken back to his childhood, talking in other voices and crying hysterically about his sorry past. It really was disappointing to see such a stereotypical "patient on the couch" approach that was popularized in the 1970s. How can a supposedly alien life form who rattles off Einstein formulas and travels across the time-space continuum at will be duped by a second-rate psychiatrist into being hypnotized and regressed back in life? This long bore-a-thon in the middle of the movie ultimately results in Powell implausibly flying out to New Mexico from New York to check out Prot’s past travels there. I have some friends who are psychiatrists, and none of them would even walk across the street to verify someone’s paranoid delusion, much less fly across the United States at their own expense.

Her Point: I told Casey that I was going to make this short and sweet. So here goes -- I did not cry and for that, I am grateful, because I think it would have detracted from the very exhilarating ending. I only laughed a few times -- always because of Spacey’s antics and once about his "conversation" with a dog. The bottom line is that I was completely entertained. This is good movie-making and that is why we go. "K-PAX" gets 3 ½ stars from this Aquarian, Bohemian daydreamer. ÙÙÙ½

His Counterpoint: I grudgingly admit that I was moderately entertained, but "K-PAX" is no "Terminator." There is a whole lot of talking and not one exchange of gunfire or thrilling car chase. The ending is a little too artsy for me; I would have preferred a K-PAXian invasion from outer space, with a battle for earth of epic proportions. But I guess that has already been done in "Independence Day." Anyone who enjoyed "Starman" will positively like this newest Bridges/ Spacey installment. I give "K-PAX" two stars. ÙÙ