K-PAX
Released: October 26, 2001
Kevin Spacey playing a thoughtful alien from the planet K-Pax? And why not? He's played some very diverse characters in the past so this is actually right up Spacey's acting alley so to speak. The trailers for "K-Pax" portray the film as an "alien visits Earth and adopts a human form during his visit while dazzling the Earthlings he meets with his amazing intelligence along the way" type of movie. However, and I won't spoil anything, "K-Pax" is not what you'd expect from the advertising. Telling anything more about the plot is risky as it will detract from the movie's buildup but rest assured that the ride is worth the eventual conclusion. The basic framework you need to know is that Spacey's character, named "Prot" (rhymes with wrote), appears at a train station seemingly out of thin air and is immediately found by the police who take him to the looney bin. Assigned to the case is a shrink played by Jeff Bridges who goes from total skeptic at hearing Prot's story to believing almost 100%. Playing Bridges's wife is Mary McCormack who many will recall portrayed Howard Stern's wife in his 1995 biopic "Private Parts". "K-Pax" left me feeling good afterwards and the themes it raises are truly universal. This is the movie I had hoped "A.I." was. While in "A.I." we are supposed to feel emotional contact for a robot, and it failed in my opinion, "K-Pax" asks us to feel for an alien named Prot and you do, for all the right reasons. Stay tuned until the very end of the credits for a nice little scene with Bridges. Directed by Iain Softley who also crafted the decent Beatles film "Backbeat" and the so-so computer flick "Hackers".
120 Minutes
Universal