Movie Scene
Spacey shines in lackluster 'K-PAX'

By Marshall Fine
The (Westchester, N.Y.) Journal News

K-PAX (Rated PG-13 for profanity, violence, adult themes) Two and One-Half Stars A mental patient claims to be a visitor from another planet and changes the way his doctor views his own world. Hard to swallow at times, but made easier by two strong performances by the central characters. Starring Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey. Directed by Iain Softley. Universal Pictures, 120 mins.

In "K-PAX," a workaholic psychiatrist gets a lesson from one of his patients in learning to live in the moment and appreciating the good things in his own life.

This is hardly new territory, but thanks to two winning performances by its stars, it is a highly watchable, if far-fetched, film.

Jeff Bridges plays Dr. Mark Powell, a shrink with a large caseload in a private Manhattan psychiatric hospital. His newest patient is a fellow who calls himself Prot (Kevin Spacey). The name is pronounced to rhyme with "boat."

Prot appears to be a delusional amnesiac who claims to come from K-PAX, a planet in a galaxy 1,000 light years from Earth. He has been on Earth for almost five years, studying this planet before returning to make a report on his findings. He travels about on beams of light, at several times light-speed.

The odd thing is that Prot seems to know his stuff. When Powell recounts Prot's discourse on the location of K-PAX to an astronomer friend, the friend tests Prot's knowledge of that galaxy — and discovers that this patient knows things of which only the most advanced scientists in the field have knowledge.

Prot also has an unusual affect on the other patients on the ward where he lives. All the patients make quantum leaps, at it were, toward being cured when Prot announces that he will return to K-PAX on a specific date and time and mentions that he can only take one person with him. They begin vying for his attention, hoping to win the chance to travel through space.

That date and time, of course, also provides Powell with the clues he needs to track down Prot's real identity. This is a case where truth is distinctly less interesting than fiction.

The point is that our imaginations are capable of wondrous things when faced with the horrors of reality — but to what end? Do we really need to be told at this point that there are things in the world too awful to deal with? Or that the way to deal with them is to simply step away from them and create a reality of our own?

And what of Prot's knowledge of space and (at one point) seeming ability to speak with dogs — or to disappear at will from the ward as though he could travel on a light beam? In that sense, "K-PAX" leaves a lot of loose ends and makes several leaps that require a strong willingness to suspend disbelief.

The Oscar-winning Spacey gives an entertaining performance, but a performance nonetheless. With his odd, mincing walk and unaffected cheeriness, he clearly is an actor in the midst of an acting challenge, rather than simply being Prot. It's fun to watch, but we're always aware of Spacey's effort.

Bridges, on the other hand, is nearly perfect as this distracted professional who suddenly finds himself compelled to focus on one patient. Bridges captures this man's frustration and, more importantly, his unwilling but thorough conversion to Prot's point of view, which helps him change his own life for the better.

"K-PAX" wants us to believe it is thinking deep thoughts, but it merely gives the impression of serious thinking, without doing any actual heavy lifting. Still, given the paucity of movies this year that are actually about something, that may be enough.

Rated PG-13 (profanity, violence, adult themes).