George Malley: Now, uh... he didn't say how long.
Lace Pennamin: Days, or weeks... they don't, they don't know.
George Malley: I'm so sorry, Lace. I know how you hate surprises.
Lace Pennamin: I tried so hard not to love you.
George Malley: How'd you make out?
Lace Pennamin: Terrible.
[they chuckle]
George Malley: Hey, would you, uh, love me the rest of my life?
Lace Pennamin: No. I'm gonna love you for the rest of mine.
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.
By : Christopher Null
Source: rec.art.movies.reviews newsgroup
Rating: 2
Ignorance is bliss? Wait and see. In a cute, cute, grungily picturesque small town in the North of (you've guessed it, it's California again), people live in friendship and celebrate the 37th birthday of George Malley (Travolta, who is 42). Here you ask: Did you say George Bailey, Jimmy Stewart's name in Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life"? Not quite but close.
George is a good man and a fine auto mechanic whose best pal is Nate (Whitaker). He is secretly in love with divorcee Lace (Sedgwick) who has two cute kids and (once bitten) does not wish to complicate her life.
On the night of his birthday, a mysterious light in the sky hits George. It must be the Bolt of Knowledge. Before you can spell "miracle" George, the common man. is transformed into a genius such as the world has never seen. He reads books by the ton, understands just about everything, learns foreign languages in minutes, has the gift of telekinesis, can beat anyone at chess, senses coming earthquakes, fixes organic and super-efficient fertilizer from common products, and more.
In short he is a polymath of extraordinary, superhuman proportions. But while otherwise George remains his old, warm and friendly self, his new power begins to disturb others. Except his pal Nate, the kindly doctor (Duvall) - the most educated and sophisticated person in town, Lace's children (kids are wiser than adults) and eventually, after a slow, sweet courtship, Lace herself.
There is a disturbing subtext of anti-intellectualism here. Or perhaps there is not. Hard to tell as the movie's myth seems uncertain as to where it wants to go, though surely it alludes biblically to the dangers of knowledge, clearly so when George and the kids take turns biting into an apple.
As George is about to go to the University at Berkeley and speak to all sorts of savants, and awkward plot device has the FBI close in on him as someone who knows classified information. More troubles follow at the same as happiness of an ordinary kind comes, thanks to loving Lace. (She gives him what is supposed to be the most erotic, shampoo and haircut in movies, but is, in reality, a tedious timewaster for us).
As troubles proceed, so does the sentimentality that steadily rises to 95 percent humidity tearjerker levels. The film, slow and a bit dull at first, remains slow and becomes very dull. This mega-intelligence of George's could have led the movie into any number of serious, funny or brainy directions. Instead, it opts for a peculiar solution that leaves everyone dissatisfied. I will not reveal it, in case you do see the film because of Travolta who is very good, a warm, unpretentious, lovable being.
Duvall is,as usual, perfect. Whitaker is merely a necessary presence, as is Sedgwick. The photography, heavy on the lyrical, is good. The score is terrible, generic stuff of the connect-the-dots school.
