K-PAX (2001)

He calls himself Prot.
This has the essence of the book with the addition of time. The story is not unique and the subplots are not unique. However the execution is superb. Just the right people were picked for each character. The pacing was such that you had time to laugh, cry, and be shocked in the best proportions.

Basically Prot turns up out of nowhere; yet many things can be explained. Then again many things can not be explained. As the people that deal with him vacillate as to his nature, others accept him and are better off for the experience.

This leaves you with the question: "Is he a man, alien... or savior?

[[ASIN:630471193X Phenomenon DVD ~ John Travolta]]

K-KRAP
On the one hand, you've got the nuthouse dramas where the mental patient provides deep truths to inmates and staff alike (Don Juan DeMarco; Cuckoo's Nest). On the other hand, you've got the Taoist alien dispensing generic new-age advice (Starman). Trying to mix the two was a BIG mistake. This movie was way too long, way too slow, too self-involved and overall just dull. Kevin Spacey has done some fantastic work (Seven; American Beauty; Usual Suspects) but this is isn't it. Also, someone said the ending was ambiguous. Not true. Prot is Robert Porter.

Is He Or Isn't He... That is the question... Or is it?
We've seen this film a number of times and enjoy it every time. It is filled with humor, misery, suspense, intrigue, science and a little bit of philosophy. K-Pax tries to get the viewer to expand his/her knowledge of the world around him/her by presenting the story of a man who appears one day in an airport and claims to be a visiting alien, named Prot (Kevin Spacey), from another star system on a mission to collect data.

People react intensely in favor or against him which both shocks and amuses him. He is immediately arrested and transferred to a mental institution where he meets Dr. Powell (Jeff Bridges), a married man with three children who is more interested in helping his patients reach a breakthrough than raising his children.

The more time Dr. Powell spends with Prot the more involved he becomes in trying to determine if he is an alien or a man suffering from split personalities. Dr. Powell makes it his mission to find out the truth no matter what the cost. Both men learn something from one another along the way. The viewer is left to make up their own mind to the truth. The end has many possibilities but no hard conclusions but this is ok. It really is.

Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey are a good match but Spacey definitely steals the show. One of my favorite things about this film is the constant visual play with light (Prot supposedly traveled to our world via a ray of light); a constant reminder about Prot even when he's not in a scene.

I highly recommend watching this PG-13 film.