2001, 2 hrs, Rated PG-13 for a sequence of violent images, and brief language and sensuality.�Dir: Iain Softley. Cast: Kevin Spacey (Prot), Jeff Bridges (Dr. Mark Powell), Mary McCormack (Rachel Powell), Alfre Woodard, David Patrick Kelly (Howie), Saul Williams (Ernie), Peter Gerety (Sal).

I fully expected, and sought to have this movie sweep me away, to manipulate me into loving it in just the way the filmmakers wanted. That didn't happen. But it's not to say that I didn't get anything out of K-PAX; I just didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped. And what's with the lame title, anyway? Sounds like a bad Himalayan climbing movie.

The problem I had with the movie is that while I wanted it to take me on a date somewhere supernatural, almost magical, instead it dropped me off at the Circle K with a ten dollar bill and a wave bye out the window as it sped off to where the cool parties were.

What makes K-PAX worthwhile, however, is the acting, notably by Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges, who steer the film into a brighter light.

Spacey is the mayor of Cool Town in every movie he makes, with no exception as Prot (long 'O'), the man who "came from nowhere" to affect the lives of many, whether he's from planet K-PAX or simply a lost soul with a fried brain on this Class BA-3 planet ("Early Stage of Evolution: Future Uncertain").

Starman Jeff Bridges turns in a stirring performance as the mental hospital psychiatrist, who listens to his patients more than his wife and two daughters, plus his estranged son in college. As you would expect, K-PAX is the film where the crazies are the most cognizant of the world, and the "normal" folk have problems worse than they admit and/or accept.

The name of director Iain Softley is surely foreign to you, and even when I list his directing filmography most of you will be in the dark: Wings of the Dove (1997), Hackers (1995) and Backbeat (1993). Still, he is creative and uses light and shadows and reflections to set a colorful and otherworldly placemat.

I did like the score as well, which entailed tickling the piano with a background beat (not a dance beat, but a smooth one that keeps the mind wandering), that reminded me of what you'd hear on those Pure Moods albums.

The ending could stir some interesting post-movie conversation, as it did with my grandmother via email. She saw it in a cognitive manner, while I viewed it abstractly. Either way could work. Thus, it's worth the money to see K-PAX, so consider this a recommendation, and whether you see the blue bird of happiness or not depends on your own point of view.

The verdict:

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