Phenomenon

George Malley is a friendly mechanic living in a small American town. On the evening of his thirty-seventh birthday, he steps outside a bar and sees a brilliant light in the sky. He is knocked unconscious, and when he wakes something has changed: his mind races, he absorbs knowledge at an extraordinary rate, and he develops telekinetic abilities. He begins inventing and experimenting, hoping to put his new gifts to good use. The town's reaction is uneasy, then hostile, and government interest follows. The one person who seems willing to accept what he has become is Lace Pennamin, a woman who recently arrived with her two children and who resists the attention of the man courting her. The film is a drama with fantasy and romance elements, directed by Jon Turteltaub from a screenplay by Gerald Di Pego, and produced by Michael Taylor and Barbara Boyle. It was Turteltaub's fourth feature, following While You Were Sleeping, and stars John Travolta as George, Kyra Sedgwick as Lace, Forest Whitaker as Nate Pope, Robert Duvall as Doc, Jeffrey DeMunn as Professor Ringold and Richard Kiley as Dr. Wellin. Released in July 1996, it cost about 32 million US dollars and took roughly 152 million worldwide, a strong return. On IMDb it sits at 6.5 out of 10 from around 89,000 votes, and on TMDB at 6.5 from about 1,400. A critics' rating of 5.8 from 36 reviews places professional notices slightly below the audience scores.