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K-PAX
Metascore
49 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 31 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 31
  3. Negative: 6 out of 31
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  1. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Charles Taylor
    80
    What keeps the movie going, besides Softley's intelligent direction and Mathieson's inventive cinematography, is the actors' duet between Spacey and Bridges.
  2. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    75
    The heart of the movie is in the Spacey performance, and in knowing that less is more, he plays Prot absolutely matter-of-factly.
  3. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Wilmington
    75
    The images are lustrous, the cutting is brisk and the acting of the two leads is right on the money.
  4. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Edward Guthmann
    75
    This is a tour-de-force performance, delivered by an actor at the top of his game, and it's a shame that K-Pax, instead of engaging our imaginations as it promises to, devolves into such a conventional, paint-by- numbers disappointment.
  5. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: William Arnold
    75
    The movie itself is not completely successful, but it's consistently both engrossing and entertaining, and -- once again -- Spacey's performance creates a spell that lingers long after the lights come back on.
  6. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    70
    When Kevin Spacey takes center stage, our planet really does seem bright.
    All this critic's reviews
  7. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Rita Kempley
    70
    Primarily, it's a warm, fuzzy and funny duet between Spacey and Bridges, one that brings to mind the interplay between Spock and Kirk.
  8. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Rosenbaum
    70
    Both actors are so good that one might easily overlook the Pollyannaish subplot.
  9. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    67
    I rather like the whole mystic- crystal-revelations aspect of K-PAX, and the idea that even a psychiatrist of Jeff Bridges' handsome, American substantiality is open to notions of cosmic improbability.
  10. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    63
    Both consoling and confounding.
  11. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Jay Carr
    63
    It would be gratifying to report that there's a lot more to K-Pax than Spacey at the top of his form, but there isn't.
    All this critic's reviews
  12. Mr. Showbiz
    Reviewed by: Cody Clark
    60
    Spacey and Bridges -- generally provide exactly the level of investment required for their characters to be convincing. Neither one showboats, and both make good use of the dry humor in Leavitt's script.
    All this critic's reviews
  13. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    60
    Entertaining for so long it's a downer to sit through the dumbed-down finale.
  14. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    50
    It's all very "Cuckoo's Nest," but in a glib, facile way, and it leaves K-PAX adrift in its fuzzy, New-Agey orbit.
  15. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jami Bernard
    50
    Not worth the rocket fuel.
  16. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    50
    The biggest load of New Agey hogwash to grace the big screen since Spacey's "Pay it Forward."
  17. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    50
    As impressive as Kevin Spacey ordinarily is, this isn't the best vehicle for his considerable talents.
  18. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Michael Sragow
    50
    The casting in K-PAX is canny, but the picture as a whole is a clunky mix of the canny and the would-be uncanny.
  19. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    50
    A pleasant enough entertainment raised above its station by the quality of its acting.
  20. Variety
    Reviewed by: Robert Koehler
    50
    Frustratingly fritters away what fascination it develops and bows to the basic conventions of a standard detective story mixed with the theme of a physician healing himself.
  21. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Michael Dequina
    40
    A two-time Oscar winner playing a crazy person in a big studio film released in late October. Can't you just smell the pretension? Probably not, given the other ways in which this film stinks.
  22. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    40
    While nowhere near as mawkish at the abysmal "Pay It Forward," K-PAX nevertheless seems somehow unfocused and meandering; it's Spacey-light.
  23. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Dennis Lim
    40
    K-PAX undertakes a garbled but comprehensive survey of Hollywood therapeutic clichés: The rain man has an awakening from his cocoon, pays it forward, turns into the fisher king.
  24. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Dana Stevens
    40
    It's hard to watch these two actors plow through the nonsense of K- Pax without feeling that a terrific opportunity has been squandered.
  25. New Times (L.A.)
    Reviewed by: Luke Y. Thompson
    40
    Isn't quite as offensive as it sounds, nor is it in any way rousing; Spacey and Bridges are watchable, but nothing more.
  26. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Frank Lovece
    30
    The latest offender in the odd "let's see what the cute and funny mentally ill can teach us" genre, this mystery/domestic drama commits all the usual sins and clichés.
  27. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    30
    Spacey is turning into another Robin Williams: Between this film and "Pay It Forward" he cops the prize for the Sappiest Performances by an Actor Previously Known to Have Great Talent.
  28. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ernest Hardy
    30
    Manipulative, feel-good drivel wrapped around a cloying performance by Kevin Spacey.
  29. Slate
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    30
    Much of K-Pax consists of Spacey grinning like Stevie Wonder behind sunglasses, -- taking dippy steps, and bobbing his head as if attached to an invisible Walkman.
  30. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    25
    In short, this movie is exactly the kind of starry-eyed escapist fantasy that Dr. Powell suspects Prot of having. It's harmless enough, since we can be cured just by leaving the theater.
  31. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Kim Morgan
    25
    Just pass on K-PAX.
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User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.8 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 52 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 29
  3. Negative: 2 out of 29
  1. CritiqueGirl
    4
    I watched this whole movie, right up to the end. I was pretty sure I knew what it would be but it just dragged on so long I had to change the channel. Who cared at that point.… Full Review »
  2. RONGIU
    9
    Sorry for the translation. Thank you. 42nd St. New York, Grand Central Station, ext. Freddy, paraplegic beggar frequent the place is seduced by a beam of light from the large side windows. They spend a few moments and a short distance, he finds himself in front of the figure of a man of singular. E 'Prot (Kevin Spacey) who, quietly and starts to move small steps going towards him. Simultaneously an 'old woman victim of assault, falls to the ground. "The man came out of nothing" comes to her to help her up, spoke to the police. Immediately cleared of the charge of assault victim who is scared by Freddy from 'However, little persuasive answers to the police officer who asks for information about its origin. Prot, is' not a clear understanding of the Earth. Thus begins the journey to its new home, the "Psychiatric Institute of Manhattan" motivation "mentally disturbed person." After a month, Further in this institute asked the expert to be dot. Mark Powell (Jeff Bridges), why? Why all the investigations, have failed because of Thorazine 300 mg daily for 3 weeks did not elicit any reaction. How is this possible? Who is this man really, what is its mission, meaning that they take the notes, because since joining the institute in all other patients there is a positive evolution of their disease? And yet, Prot astronomical knowledge outside of the town, talk of energy efficient configurations, classifies the planet Earth a class BA-3 early stage of evolution, the future uncertain. The tests carried out was also sensitive to white light, can perceive up to a wavelength of 300/400 Armstrong, ultraviolet rays. Dr. Mark initially intrigued, then "taken" totally from this patient who claims to come from a planet called K-Pax belonging to the constellation of Lyra. Can that be true? Mark asks the brother of astrophysical interest in the case. The hopes that the psychotic is more convincing that ever happened. " In the following days is accompanied by Mark Prot in a planetarium and the presence of four experts from astrophysicists' is not only a test of his knowledge, drawing ellipses, calculating time speed, speaking of energy existing in a beam of light, writing formulas and concludes the impromptu conference saying: "I assume this will help to explain the disruption to you slaved in the rotation scheme of your binary stars, but you have not been able to understand ... until this moment." The dot. Mark is at a crossroads. Want to let go as the manager of the Dr. Claudia Villars (Alfre Voodard) transferring the patient to another department or speak with regressive hypnosis? And what are the risks to Prot? Film immersive thanks to the skill of the two main characters, the screenplay by Charles Leavitt and directed by Iain Softley noticed. Music by Edward Shearmur, gradually leads the viewer to enter a world, the human mind, as charming as a starry sky.… Full Review »
  3. ryancarroll88
    5
    A very well-thought out movie that unfortunately offers very little kick. Still, the saving grace here is Kevin Spacey, who as always churns out a performance worth remembering.… Full Review »
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