Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Best / Worst of the Decade

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Phenomenon

EMAILPRINTBuena Vista Pictures

Phenomenon reviews
41
8.0 User Score:

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)

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...

75

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 >
75

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 >
63

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 >
63

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]

50

Newsweek David Ansen

Soft to the point of squishiness, Phenomenon is rescued from terminal bathos by Travolta's radiant conviction.

Read Full Review >
50

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 >
50

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Put simply, this movie is dumb.

Read Full Review >
50

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 >
50

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 >
42

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 >
40

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 >
40

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 >
40

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 >
40

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

A whopping wrong turn throws this lightweight, benign-looking movie terminally off course.

Read Full Review >
30

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 >
30

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 >
30

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.

Popular on CBS sites: College Signing Day | Olympics | Lost | iPhone | Cell Phones | Video Game Reviews | Free Music

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy (UPDATED) | Terms of Use