K-PAX

I don't even know which interpretation is better. If the one where prot is an alien from an advanced civilization whose hobby is to ride through space to show off for less evolved beings. Or the one where he's actually a human who overly tugs at the socks of his surroundings and, through knowing everyone by name, announces the arrival of a bluebird in his backyard and creates a plausible simulation of an alien star system in a planetarium to force a skeptical psychiatrist to pay more attention to his family. In any case, the biggest sci-fi budget is 68m for a film set in three rooms and one garden, the point of which is the importance of bourgeois family togetherness in the face of higher knowledge. But maybe that's subversive enough that the film itself is implying how aware it is of the fact that it's constantly communicating in condescending gestures and simple mottos with which 15-year-old philosophers, mothers on their fourth maternity leave (definitely not a vacation), and people who feel like they've figured it all out after a powerful experience with hallucinogens can best identify. Either way, nothing describes my impressions of the whole spectacle like this short story: ___ "There was an old man. He was a kind of sage. He got up in the morning and, having nothing to do, went out for a walk and glossed wittily on the world around him. With understanding irony he smiled at people's foibles, and with gentle humor he pointed out minor wrongs and iniquities. He talked to everyone – from diggers to shop assistants, workers to clerks and managers; they all knew him well. ...No wonder people one day conspired to beat the old man to death." (03/30/2019)

Excellent actors, sensitive directing. But what’s up with that screenplay? From roughly the midpoint (the first hypnosis), K-PAX develops in a direction that’s completely different from where it was initially headed and its conclusion is the culmination of a story that never took off in the film! Not to mention that the hopes offered by the promising start and the whole first half are thus sucked into a black hole between Mercury and Pluto. (08/17/2002)

A magnificent, slow-paced and in the purest way soothing film that, upon further viewings, gains a stamp of genius in my eyes. Spacey demonstrates that even the most challenging acting challenge is not insurmountable for him, and Bridges perfectly accentuates his civilian role. Criticisms towards the screenplay are irrelevant; if Prot only wandered around the mental institution, treated patients, and awed with his knowledge of the universe, it would quickly lose the magic that makes these scenes unforgettable. It is precisely the dramatic storyline, unfolding in the second half, that gives K-PAX an aura of a meticulously crafted film until the very last scene. (11/26/2006)

Two incredibly different halves. While the first one is captivating, thoughtful, full of valuable ideas, the second one is scattered, with a poor script deviation and too much pseudo-psychology – it looks like it switched to a completely different film. Pleasant philosophy is alternated with hard-to-believe psychology, which ultimately spoils the whole impression and gives the feeling that they didn't know what they were doing. (02/03/2014)

Acting exhibitions and atmospheric direction in a story that unfortunately can't handle itself. I applaud any film that makes the passive viewer think and plays with their deepening expectations, hence the 4*, but I guess I'd have to be on a completely different mental or intellectual state to get a satisfactory interpretation of the twist and the overall meaning here – and I'm really not sure if it's a more evolved or more primitive state... That said, Kevin Spacey is a phenomenal actor. 80% (05/20/2011)