John Travolta’s Performance Phenomenal In ‘Phenomenon’

If one of your friends, a good friend, came up to you and said he’d just seen a strange light, you’d likely laugh it off.

If that same friend then began reading books like a demented librarian, at the rate of two or three a night, you’d probably start shaking your head.

But if on top of this, that friend began rhapsodizing about concepts that you’ve never even imagined, concepts that would puzzle Carl Sagan, you’d definitely begin to wonder what was going on.

And consider what you’d feel if that friend began moving things with his mind…

But, hey, if all this were to take place in a movie, it would seem perfectly believable. Especially if John Travolta were the guy to whom it is happening.

In “Phenomenon,” the ex-Sweathog plays one George Malley, an ordinary guy from an ordinary inland California town to whom something extraordinary occurs. On the night of his 37th birthday, George sees a “light” and all of a sudden he is different.

A mechanic by trade, George suddenly becomes a chess master. He learns Portuguese, though “not all of it,” in 20 minutes. He invents a new system to harness solar energy, fertilizer good enough to fill a field with corn and a fuel made from pig poop that can get 90 miles per gallon. On top of all this, he is just the kind of guy who can melt the heart of a self-isolated woman (Kyra Sedgwick).

But this being more than simply a movie, this being a Hollywood-type object lesson, George’s story must include a storm. And that involves the shadowy presence of Big Government, not to mention humankind’s basic fear of the unknown. Pretty soon, the FBI is on George’s trail, and old friends begin treating George like Mark Twain’s mysterious stranger.

Only his new love (Sedgwick), his best friend (Forest Whitaker), the kindly ol’ town doc (Robert Duvall) and one or two others stick by him. Up to the very end. And even beyond.

There is much to like about “Phenomenon,” not the least of which is Travolta. This is his time, even more so than when he was strutting through his post-“Kotter” period. On the heels of “Pulp Fiction” and “Get Shorty,” Travolta has become a beefier-but-friendlier charmer whose inherent boyishness appeals to both sexes of all ages.

It’s hard to think of another actor who could better imbue George with both the innate simplicity and complex intelligence that he requires. Travolta’s ability to change his expression from anguished befuddlement to loving smiles in an eyeblink is, well, it’s phenomenal.

His co-stars deserve mention, too, including Sedgwick in what is little more than a cliche part as the damaged woman, Whitaker is the shy man nursing an obsession for Diana Ross and Duvall as the small-town physician with Mr. Rogers-type kindness.

But “Phenomenon,” in the end, is just another lecture about how we humans are wasting our potential. The film wants us to believe that we all can do what George does if we just open ourselves up to the opportunities (never mind that there is a specific reason for why it happens to him).

What’s particularly irritating is how the movie plugs into the all-too-common practice of making Big Government out to be the villain. There is reason for this attitude, of course, but using it here simply serves to detract from the miracle that is George.

For by using a too-convenient bad-guy counterpart to George’s essential goodness, whether that counterpart be a storm-trooper FBI agent or an arrogant brain surgeon (Richard Kiley), Turteltaub and screenwriter Gerald DiPego upset the delicate balance of the film’s overall fantasy.

Thus “Phenomenon” becomes just another us-against-them adventure, complete with at least a couple of music videos, instead of what it should be: the celebration of a basic guy who, for a moment in time, basks in the light of what we all would like to be.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: “Phenomenon” **-1/2 Location: Lincoln Heights, Lyons and Coeur d’Alene cinemas Credits: Directed by John Turteltaub, written by Gerald DiPego, starring John Travolta, Kyra Sedgwick, Forest Whitaker, Robert Duvall. Running time: 2:05 Rating: PG