Give me those glasses, you promised it was my turn

Is he a spaceman or is he a nutter? You have two hours to decide.

Nigel Bell

Coming at you like a cross between One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, The Fisher King and Starman, K-PAX is a Hollywood rarity. There are no shoot outs, dazzling special effects or sex scenes. This is a film which is dialogue heavy.

If you can suspend your belief you're in for a treat, if you're sceptical from the start you'll probably clock watch from the first fifteen minutes.

The Plot
Seemingly from out of nowhere Prot (Spacey) arrives in New York declaring himself to be an alien from the planet K-PAX.

Spacey was suddenly worried he'd beamed onto the set of 24 Hour Party People

He's promptly carted off to the Psychiatric Institution of Manhattan, where he comes under the psychiatric eye of Dr Mark Powell (Bridges).

From then on it's a battle of wills between the two as to whether Prot is who he claims to be or whether he's someone who's gone of the rails.

The Verdict
A simple enough plot but it's credit to director Softley and the two principle actors that they sustain interest throughout the two hours.

Prot's transfer to an institution helps in providing a number of "strange" sub characters which help move the plot along.

And there are enough pieces of evidence dropped in which could suggest Prot is who he says he is - he can apparently see ultra violet light (humans can't), he knows an awful lot about parts of the universe we've just started investigating.

But just when you convince yourself he's genuine another plot twist makes you think otherwise.

Jeff thought back to the days when he once played aliens instead of boring psychiatrists

Bridges puts in a solid Bridges role as the psychiatrist in danger of getting too close to his subject.

Spacey is excellent. When you first see him he comes across as a spaced out hippy but quickly turns into a Data like character from Star Trek.

And anyone who can eat bananas in their skins deserves the applause.

If you think this is a film just about aliens from outer space, think again. The underlying theme of K-PAX is the value of the family. Don't let that put you off, it isn't rammed down your throat.

K-PAX is a film which demands you let yourself be drawn in. If you do you won't be disappointed.