REVIEW
K-PAX
Starring Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges
Directed by Iain Softley
Now showing
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K-PAX packs few punches
What about the alien?!
There are about 12 really nice moments in K-PAX. Two of them are, of course, tossed out as bait in the film’s advertisements.
That means the rest of the movie is made up of not-so-interesting things, like Prot (Kevin Spacey) talking about the flowers and sunsets on planet K-PAX. Worse, a huge chunk of time is wasted on Jeff Bridges's character, Dr. Brewer, the psychiatrist who is assigned to the would-be alien's case.
Dr. Brewer has an estranged son. We never really find out why, and thank God – because who cares?! This other guy might be an alien! But we won’t go into that, because we have to find out about Dr. Brewer’s inability to spend time with his kids.
In order to get to what could have been a nice little twist, we are dragged through the good doctor’s hypothesis of what could make a man think he is an alien. By the time we get to the twist, the movie has lamely covered over its plot holes and dragged our butts all over New Mexico.
Throughout the movie, I wished Jeff Bridges would stop smiling condescendingly, resurrect his old Starman character, and run into a beam of light with Prot in tow. |
