"Phenomenon"--Bad Things, Good People

Small towns, for the most part, take a bad rap at the hands of Hollywood. They are either presented as sinks of hidden depravity or full of thick-headed rubes and losers.

On occasion, however, someone from La-La Land shows evidence of not only having experienced small-town life but of even having enjoyed the experience. The best-known example, of course, is Frank Capra's classic It's a Wonderful Life. One of the best of more recent efforts came in 1996, when director Jon Turtletaub and writer Gerald di Pego created the wide spot in the road called Harmon, California, and a miraculous mechanic named George Malley in Phenomenon.

John Travolta is Malley, a mechanic and all-around good guy who would really like to get a date with Lace Pennimin, a skittish single mother played by Kyra Sedgwick. George is everybody's friend, a likable, non-assuming man who gives new dimension to the word "average." At least, he is until the night of his 37th birthday when he is stunned by a bright light as he gazes up into the starlit sky. Suddenly, George is a genius, able to read three or more books a day, learn a language in twenty minutes, sense impending earthquakes and make objects move just by thinking about it.

Unlike many another movie protagonist who suddenly finds himself with that kind of power, however, George just stays--George. Granted, he finally manages to persuade Lace to trust and, eventually, love him, but that has nothing to do with his new powers. It's the real George who wins the lady's heart, the funny, kind, romantic, caring man who will drop everything to help find a dying child and who brings her a bouquet of flowers--"one of every kind...between my place and yours."

Rather, it's the rest of the town that changes. At first, George's new talents are simply a subject for amusement. Gradually, however, they begin to fear him, fear the unknown he represents; and when he accidentally shatters a barroom mirror in a moment of anger, their fear turns him into a social outcast.

Phenomenon is that rare commodity: a sentimental movie that evokes an emotional response without wallowing in pathos. The main reason for its success are the performances of the major characters: Travolta; Sedgwick; Forest Whitaker as George's best friend, Nate Pope; and Robert Duvall as the town doctor, a man who has known George all his life. Another excellent performance that could go unrecognized because of its brevity is that of Jeffrey DeMunn as Dr. John Ringgold, a seismologist who first appears after George accurately predicts an earthquake because he can feel the low-frequency vibrations that precede it.

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