Phenomenon
Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: July 3, 1996 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
42
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
10
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger 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 MonitorDavid 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 TodaySusan 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
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Put simply, this movie is dumb. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter 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 ExaminerBarbara 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
50
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Soft to the point of squishiness, Phenomenon is rescued from terminal bathos by Travolta's radiant conviction. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineStaff(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
42
Entertainment WeeklyKen 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
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
A whopping wrong turn throws this lightweight, benign-looking movie terminally off course. Read full review
40
Washington PostDesson Thomson
While Phenomenon attempts, tritely, to ascend into mind-blowing significance, it also plummets into a pit of sentimental mush. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKenneth 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
VarietyTodd 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
30
Washington PostHal 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 ChronicleMarjorie 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 ReaderJonathan 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
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