Subject: REVIEW: PHENOMENON (1996)

From: [email-masked] (Christopher Null)
Date: 4 Jul 1996 09:50:21 GMT

PHENOMENON
                      A film review by Christopher Null
                       Copyright 1996 Christopher Null

     John Travolta is one hell of a hairy man.  More than any other movie
I've seen him in, PHENOMENON features more of Travolta's bodily fur than
anything else you're likely to come by.

     The trailers have been barraging us with this simplest of plots for
months.  George Malley (Travolta) is a simple man in a small town on the
eve of his 37th year, and on his birthday he sees a mysterious light in the
sky which knocks him down and, faster than you can say "plot device," turns
him into a supergenius.  He comes complete with telekinetic powers, limited
mind-reading ability, earthquake sensor, giant veggie-growing ability,
speed reading, cruise control, and automatic transmission.

     Because he is such an intellectual stud, he gains the love and fear of
various people in the town.  Among the lovers are Lace (Kyra Sedgwick),
buddy Nate (Forest Whitaker), and local doctor "Doc" (Robert Duvall).
Among the fearers are the type of hick yahoos that are omnipresent in
movies about simple men in small towns.

     The film absolutely reeks of being a "pleasant" picture....  Long,
drawn-out photography.  Dogs, kittens, rabbits, and flowers everywhere.
Precocious children.  Really bad pop music.  Your occasional FBI agent.
You know, cute stuff.  From the director of (vomit) WHILE YOU WERE
SLEEPING, what else would you expect?

     Not that I mean to detract from the charms of PHENOMENON, because it
isn't by any stretch a terrible film.  Instead, it's just... *there.*  It
just goes on and on and never does much of anything.  It's predictable to a
scene and not very original, but at least the movie isn't insulting.  The
performances and direction are all fine, and there are some funny moments.
Basically, it's "pleasant."

     As far as the social message of this film, I really couldn't begin to
say.  Most of the time it's a running Public Service Announcement for
reading.  The rest of the time it gives off something of a "don't be afraid
of smart people" theme.  You'd think in two hours they'd come up with
better than that.

     A *real* George Malley could have.

RATING:  ***

|------------------------------|
 \ ***** Perfection             \
  \ **** Good, memorable film    \
   \ *** Average, hits and misses \
    \ ** Sub-par on many levels    \
     \ * Unquestionably awful       \
      |------------------------------|

-Christopher Null  /  [email-masked]  /  Writer-Producer
-Visit the Movie Emporium at http://www.filmcritic.com/
-and Null Set Productions at http://www.filmcritic.com/nullset.htm