Hey folks, Harry here with the return of Julius... Julius debuted last month on the site and has returned with an early peek at K-PAX... that 'Is Kevin Spacey a _______ or isn't he' flick. We've heard from many disappointed viewers that found the film rather pedestrian, and Moriarty has shared his disdain with the source material for the script for eons now. So here we go, with what seems like a review of the near finished film... Enjoy...
Dear Harry,
Didn't think I'd have a reason to send you my second missive so soon after my "debut" on your site last month, but I had the chance to see an advance screening of "K-Pax", a seemingly finished print, and if you aren't already inundated with reviews, feel free to post this one.
"K-Pax" stars Kevin Spacey as a man who calls himself Prot (rhymes with boat) and claims to come from the planet K-Pax. Jeff Bridges plays the psychiatrist trying to figure out what's really up with the Spacey character. Think Nuts meets Awakenings meets The Fisher King, but all toned down several notches and created with care to feel realistic or naturalistic. Iain Softley directs with the sturdy, adult pace and look of washed-out austere beauty he brought to "Wings of the Dove"; it's a slow pace which makes the movie feel longer than its less-than-two hours. I don't mind slow pace, but the movie ultimately doesn't have that much to say and doesn't have much of a plot beyond throwing up clues as to whether Prot is an alien or a disturbed human as we watch him interact with Bridges, the patients in the ward and family and friends of Bridges (some fine ensemble acting for the most part here, but Alfre Woodard is completely wasted here, I must sadly add).
The measured pace allowed me to reflect on some pesky plot flaws, which may not bother most viewers, but since I live with a therapist, I had reason to doubt some details in the film. Talking it over with said therapist confirmed the problems in the script:
Spacey is taken in by the police and brought to a mental ward simply because he shows up (without having an address or ID) at Grand Central and calmly insists he's from the planet K-Pax. That isn't enough to get you in the mental ward (unless you choose to sign yourself up). You must exhibit behavior that shows you are a danger to yourself and/or others to be admitted into psychiatric care by persons other than yourself. Even being ostensibly homeless doesn't get you picked up by police (no matter what we b elieve Giuliani's New York was like these past 8 years). At best you get referred to a shelter and even then it's your choice to go or not.
So the set-up that gets Spacey into the Mental ward is majorly flawed. But once in the ward, there is this pressure being brought to bear that he might be sent "upstairs" where patients are zombified with drugs, even though he shows none of the extreme signs of psychosis that would make such a treatment choice logical, and even the few odd worrisome episodes he does have are nothing compared to what some of the other patients on his floor do, and they don't get sent "upstairs". The whole notion of going upstairs just comes across as a hoary plot device to lend some urgency to the proceedings, but isn't really necessary to tell the story and ends up robbing the movie of credibility.
And another therapy nono: No therapist would ever invite a patient to their home to spend Fourth of July holiday BBQ with their wife and kids. It's just not done, no matter how desperate the therapist might be to try to "reach" a certain patient. Only a hugely ethically challenged and incompetent psychiatrist would consider such a stunt. And as it is, the movie comes up with rather lame reasoning for this turn of events, ethically questionable or not.
Spoiler alert; don't read the next paragraph, if you don't want to know major plot stuff:
Ultimately the movie chooses to play it both ways with the Spacey character. You are given a full "earthling" background that points to Prot having suffered a breakdown because of a traumatic event and living as Prot is his coping mechanism, yet the movie still allows you to think maybe he is somehow alien nonetheless. For "Prot" has so many bizarre abilities and such great astronomical knowledge that the movie really only makes sense if he is an alien. In the end the movie seems to suggest that maybe both scenarios are true. That the alien was living inside the otherwise catatonic body of his traumatized human friend for five years until his scheduled return to K-Pax. That's my interpretation, it's the only one that sorta makes sense to me, particularly when you factor in the astronomical knowledge Prot had (yes, it is said the traumatized human had been very smart even tho he'd worked in a slaughter house, but how would he know information even the best astronomers haven't figured out yet?) Nonetheless, it still doesn't come together satisfactorily in my head. And the movie basically tries to have it both ways, leaving it to the audience to render the final verdict on Spacey's origin(s). This could have been clever and intriguing, but in this case comes across more muddled than compelling.
End Spoiler alert:
Ultimately not quite worth a recommendation. Softley, Spacey and Bridges do solid work and after a one-note start Spacey especially is given some chances to show off his acting chops, but their sincere efforts are hamstrung by a script that just isn't quite as sophisticated as the movie pretends it to be.
Julius
