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Phenomenon
EMAILPRINTBuena Vista Pictures

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 17 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 2 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Fantasy | Romance
Written by: Gerald Di Pego
Directed by: Jon Turteltaub
Release Date:
Theatrical: July 3, 1996
DVD: January 15, 2002
Running Time: 123 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG for language and mild sensuality
Starring John Travolta, Kyra Sedgwick, Forest Whitaker, Robert Duvall, Jeffrey DeMunn, Richard Kiley, Brent Spiner, and Vyto Ruginis
An uplifting story of an ordinary man transformed by extraordinary events. (BV Entertainment)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Instinct National Treasure National Treasure: Book of Secrets The Kid
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
It's about change, acceptance and love, and it rounds those three bases very nicely, even if it never quite gets to home.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
John Turteltaub directed the drama, which lapses into medical jargon and new-age clichés near the end, but it scores telling points with its respect for intelligence and optimistic view of human potential.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
In a film that offers itself as a Gump-esque moral fable, Phenomenon could serve as a case study of When Smart Films Fail.
Read Full Review >USA Today Susan Wloszczyna
Phenomenon is a fantasy about super-intelligence that works best if you can switch off your brain. Those who can will reach weepy nirvana. Those who can't will find this sticky-sweet wallow a bit, well, dumb. [03 Jul 1996 Pg.01.D]
Newsweek David Ansen
Soft to the point of squishiness, Phenomenon is rescued from terminal bathos by Travolta's radiant conviction.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Staff(not credited)
In time-honored Hollywood fashion, PHENOMENON suggests that smart people are friendless freaks who'd be far better off if only they were just as dumb as the rest of us.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack
But this soggy, sentimental tour through a rural dreamworld of salt-of- the-earth versus supercharged intelligence never quite gets deep enough to touch the soul -- or to make sense.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Examiner Barbara Shulgasser
As always, Duvall is magnificent. Even in this small part, he manages to give one of the most stirring performances in the movie.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Ken Tucker
Phenomenon (directed by Jon Turteltaub, the guy who sedated us with "While You Were Sleeping") would be pretty unbearable were Travolta not so consistently charming.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
Instead, director Jon Turteltaub has taken the easiest road, emerging with a soppy, soft-headed disease-of-the-week-style piece that sentimentalizes or opts out of every interesting issue the script raises.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Well-meaning and convinced it has something of value to say, its "Reach Out and Touch Someone" sensibility ensures that all its satisfactions will prove hollow, and so they do.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
While Phenomenon attempts, tritely, to ascend into mind-blowing significance, it also plummets into a pit of sentimental mush.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Elvis Mitchell
A whopping wrong turn throws this lightweight, benign-looking movie terminally off course.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Hal Hinson
Still, well-intentioned sappiness is something we can deal with; the lack of any genuine dramatic conflict is a more damaging shortcoming.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Phenomenon flails about in a search for direction: inspirational drama, romance, social study, government intrigue- nothing fits or is explored very deeply.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
I don't doubt the noble motives behind this Disney parable, but the attempts at amiable, laid-back dialogue (script by Gerald DiPego) are painful, the pacing is sluggish, and the confused story's poorly focused.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Jay H gave it a6:
After such a promising first half, the story just peters out and loses its focus. The performances are good and sincere, I just wish they had kept the lightness of the first half throughout the film. Interesting idea given a fair treatment.
Atticus D gave it a10:
SO good.
