K-Pax (2001)
Directed by Iain Softley
Written by Charles Leavitt
Starring Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges, Alfre Woodard, Mary McCormack
Release Date August 13th, 2001
Published November 1st, 2001
Kevin Spacey is one our finest actors having created such enduring characters as American Beauty's Lester Burnham, Seven's John Doe, and the unforgettable Verbal Kint in The Usual Suspects (My personal favorite). But no matter how great the actor, he can't get it right every time. Need I remind you of Pay it Forward, and now with K-Pax Spacey has struck out again. High hopes still persist for his role in The Shipping News in December.
You can't blame Spacey entirely for the failure of K-Pax -- director Iain Softley and the screenwriter must share equal blame. They seemed to approach the film with no idea how they would resolve it which leaves the audience with an ending so unsatisfying it collapses any interesting elements the film had built to that point.
K-Pax is the story of Prot (Spacey) a man who's either an alien or a mental patient. Prot is picked up by police at the scene of a mugging after babbling about not being from Earth. He is placed in a mental institution where Dr. Mark Powell (Jeff Bridges, in the film's best performance) treats him. K Pax is at its best when Bridges and Spacey go one on one with Bridge's doctor attempting to logically ascertain why this seemingly brilliant man thinks he is an alien.
The film's other scenes are less interesting featuring your typical cast of loony bin loonies such as the germophobe, the mean one, and the patient who could leave the hospital if someone would treat him with love instead of medicine. Of course Prot will redeem them and these scenes are lifted from the Patch Adams scrap heap though slightly elevated by Spacey's presence.
Jeff Bridge's performance nearly saves K Pax his search for Prot's true identity is well played with the right amount of emotional impact. Bridges is stringing together one of the most under-appreciated resumes in the business with brilliant turns in The Contender, The Big Lebowski and Fearless. If all of K-Pax were as good as he is, K-Pax could have been one of the best films of the year.
As for Spacey, Prot is a nearly impossible character who's required to be quirky because all aliens are quirky, and he's required to be psychologically damaged and then be a saint. That's a lot of work. In the end the director refuses to give the audience any catharsis by not answering the film's big question, one I won't print because I don't want to spoil it. The ending is left open either for a sequel or to offer the audience the opportunity to write their own ending, but intelligent moviegoers may be annoyed with the mystery. I know I was.
