K-PAX
Can we allow ourselves to believe in extraterrestrials? This is the question that \K-PAX"" asks us. In this variation of ""Phenomenon"" meets ""One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,"" Kevin Spacey stars as Prot, a mysterious stranger who winds up in a New York psychiatric hospital after being diagnosed as insane. Prot is a friendly and good-natured man who says he comes from the planet K-PAX. He is smart and soon begins to have inspiring effects on the other patients and workers. His doctor, Mark Powell (Jeff Bridges), at first does not want to believe him, but soon like others begins to think otherwise. Can Prot really be from another planet or is he just mentally ill?
""K-PAX"" is far from perfect, but it does allow itself to showcase some fine performances from its actors. Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges seem to be having a good time in their characters, but at this point in their careers they could play them in their sleep. The other characters are acted well but appear to be underwritten. Powell's wife is at home frustrated with his career, but because she is so underwritten we don't really care. There are some characters (mainly the patients) who have subplots that are actually more interesting than Prot's, and it is unfortunate that more time is not spent with them. This happens many times throughout the film as many subplots are presented, but never finished. One major plot point that is left unexplained is how Prot knows what he does. We try to believe that if he is really from K-PAX, he would be filled with this knowledge, but in the end there is no explanation. The writers of the film perhaps tried to make it a bit mysterious to add to the atmosphere of possibility, but this doesn't always work.
By the end of the film the viewer is left with several unanswered questions. This is because the film can't make up its mind over what it wants to be. Does it want to be a science fiction story or a psychological drama? The ideas do work together for a while, but then the light science fiction aspect of it leaves and it becomes a dark drama. When this happens many of the ""feel-good"" aspects of the film depart and all that is left is this murky feeling. Maybe it was meant to be uplifting somehow, but it doesn't work.
The film's biggest problem is that it seems all too familiar. If the viewers have enough common sense, they should be able to foresee the ending at the beginning of the film, if not half-way through. The only sense of wonder that the viewers might experience is when they wonder if the ending really will be what they think it will be. By the end of the film, it has offered us nothing new, not even a new twist on an old idea. The plot feels too old and overdone as if it were another average teen or horror film.
There are a few positive aspects in ""K-PAX"" other than the acting. The camera does a unique job at trying to capture light through crystal or windows. This is one area of the film that succeeds very well because of how light is incorporated in the story. Anyone who has lived or been in New York will also appreciate some of the scenery. The script does have a sense of humor at times which moves the film through some major lulls. These small ingredients do help, but it is mainly the acting that saves the film from being truly boring.
""K-PAX"" is a disappointment. Given its two actors and concept, it had the potential to be better, but it's not. The film is entertaining if you don't think about it too much, because if you do think about ""K-PAX"" you will leave the theater confused and frustrated.
Riding in Cars with Boys
Judging by today's epidemic of ""babies having babies,"" something isn't working in middle school and high school sex-education classes. Perhaps an effective tool that would guarantee a drop in teen pregnancies would be the film ""Riding in Cars with Boys.""
Based on a true story, ""Riding in Cars"" stars Drew Barrymore as 15-year-old Beverly who gets pregnant after meeting the dumbest guy in Connecticut. Through the rest of her life she continues to screw up in various ways, and though in the end she claims her son made her life wonderful, the rest of the movie argues he was the problem.
As a teen, Beverly blindly jumps into the arms of Ray, the dopey but devoted guy ready for backseat lovin'. Steve Zahn, hilarious and underappreciated as always, nails the role. He displays juvenile affection through wide-eyed stares and a ""ho-hum, who'me?"" attitude, which usually earns Ray temporary forgiveness from both Beverly and the audience.
To save face, Beverly's parents force her to marry Ray. James Wood plays another heartbreak in Beverly's life portraying his cold, macho relationship with his daughter, but mother Lorraine Bracco (""The Sopranos"") brings warmth and wit to the family.
The bride sits through her tragically funny wedding in a pink dress all alone, save for best friend Fay, brilliantly played by Brittany Murphy. The baby, not even born, has already begun to ruin Beverly's life, starting with her wedding.
Fay gets pregnant too and for awhile they're excited, but the disappointments keep coming: no junior prom, college goals ruined and the birth of a son, Jason, instead of the daughter Beverly had hoped for.
Ray's ineptness at being either husband or father and the strain of being Jason's mother costs Beverly the life she dreamed of, including an important scholarship. She finds herself scorned by her parents and living in a wretched house.
A scene where Ray must say goodbye to Jason could nearly brake your heart. Seeing both a grown man and his little boy cry is hard enough, but then Jason runs after his father with his toothbrush, begging to leave too. Scene-stealer Cody Arens, playing six-year-old Jason, charmed the audience with both big tears and big smiles.
As Beverly's life crumbles, she and her father also grow farther apart. Finally, she loses everything except what she doesn't really want'her son.
The story skips to twenty years later. Beverly has written her memoirs and lives vicariously through grown-up Jason. Obviously Jason has some big issues, but the ending wraps up too neatly and predictably for such a chaotic life.
Bluntly, this movie was depressing. It resembled ""Blow"" with Johnny Depp: based on a true and pathetic story, without many bright points in the main character's downhill life. But with the meticulous direction of Penny Marshall, what could have been utterly bleak became merely comically tragic.
The actors brought the story to life though, with a skill to create magic out of this melancholy material. The adorable Barrymore made a radiant transition from a bright-eyed teenager with big dreams to a cynical and controlling 35-year-old with bitch-red lipstick and a traumatized son. Despite Beverly's low-class lifestyle, Barrymore gives her character not only spirit and strength, but does it with humor and style.
""Riding in Cars"" needs its actors to rescue it from total depression. Murphy, best known by college audiences from ""Clueless,"" has phenomenal movie star energy, bringing larger than life comedy to a potentially dismal role.
As a sidenote, the hilarious and appealing previews with a smiling Barrymore are totally misleading. The lighthearted scenes on commercials seemed to be for a different movie, certainly not this broken-hearted tale of woe.
So though the plot was full of misery, Barrymore, Murphy and Zahn brought life to the sadness to make an overall good film. ""Riding"" is only recommended if you a) like crying at good movies, b) really enjoy Drew Barrymore or c) want to discourage sexual activity.
