PHENOMENON
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1996 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: John Travolta undergoes a brain-boost
connected to a strange light he sees in the sky.
As his intelligence increases he and his world each
see the other in different ways. This is a film
that draws heavily on Daniel Keyes's FLOWERS FOR
ALGERNON. It is a gentle and often compelling film
but it becomes muddled just when it should be
getting to the point. To some extent it is a
vanity piece for John Travolta. Rating: +1 (-4 to
+4)
George Malley (played by John Travolta) is someone who just gets by in life. He is a good auto mechanic and a decent gardener, but not a whole lot more and he has few friends. He would like to win the favor of a single mother of two children, Lace Pennamin (Kyra Sedgewick), but she is just as determined not to become involved with him. On the night of his 37th birthday he is looking at the sky and sees a bright flash of light that knocks him over. Suddenly the relationships of things become much more clear to him. He is able to play a winning game of chess for the first time. He finds that the Spanish he was trying to learn is suddenly very easy for him, he can read two or three books a day--whatever he tries is easy for him. Soon he discovers he has the power to feel the waves that foretell the coming of earthquakes and can even will objects to move. The one thing that he cannot do is win over Lace, the woman he loves. The more he tries to win her over the more stubborn and bewildered she becomes. George has two constant friends. Nate Pope (Forest Whitaker) is a similarly lonely friend whose lot, George tries to improve. The other is a local physician (Robert Duvall) who is like a foster father for George. With some of the strange new abilities and his innocent genius he has he is able to win over friends. He makes himself a hero, at least temporarily, but soon he finds that his new powers also breed a certain suspicion. To make matters worse he decodes a cryptic signal he hears on short-wave and responds with his own messages in the same code. This only brings him to the attention of the government who take him into custody to study his strange skills. In spite of his best efforts he finds himself becoming more and more of a freak in his own town.
John Travolta carries out his role sufficient charm, though not as much as the script really calls for him to have. But for some minor descents into frustration and neurosis, he remains a simple, pleasant and likable genius. He is getting a little old for boyish, winning roles. Kyra Sedgewick is also likable but brings even less of an edge to her role than does Travolta. Travolta's unflagging devotion to this woman should presumably be endearing, but apart from a minor physical attractiveness there is little in her role that makes her seem so worth the effort. Robert Duvall is along playing a physician who is almost like a father to the Travolta character. He seems to be there often as only a sounding board and a script device. Duvall is too good of an actor not to give a good performance but there is little new for him to do.
What carries PHENOMENON is the subject of human intelligence and writer Gerald DiPego's idea of what a big increase in IQ brings to a small man in a small town. George's ingenuity and his ideas of small projects and experiments are enjoyable, but toward the end of the film the point of what is going on becomes muddled. George seems to pop in and out of adjustment in ways that are not nearly as interesting as the well-developed Charly Gordon in Daniel Keyes's FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON. That novel set the standard to measure stories of intelligence increase by and this story comes a poor second. (Of course, the film version CHARLY also misses the potential of the story badly and tries too hard to be a 1960s mod film. A faithful adaptation of the novel might be a much bigger service to the viewer than this film had even the potential to be.)
This is a story not without its interesting moments, but it needed less of a fuzzy edge and less of an admiration for good sweet old George Malley. I would give this film a flat +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
Copyright 1996 Mark R. Leeper
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