7.4/10
173,086
554 user 132 critic
Trailer
2:46 | Trailer
PROT is a patient at a mental hospital who claims to be from a faraway planet named K-PAX. His psychiatrist tries to help him, only to begin to doubt his own explanations.

Director:

Iain Softley

Writers:

Gene Brewer (novel), Charles Leavitt (screenplay)
3 nominations. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kevin Spacey ... Prot
Jeff Bridges ... Dr. Mark Powell
Mary McCormack ... Rachel Powell
Alfre Woodard ... Dr. Claudia Villars
David Patrick Kelly ... Howie
Saul Williams ... Ernie
Peter Gerety ... Sal
Celia Weston ... Doris Archer
Ajay Naidu ... Dr. Chakraborty
Tracy Vilar ... Maria
Melanee Murray Melanee Murray ... Bess
John Toles-Bey ... Russell
Kimberly Scott ... Joyce Trexler
Conchata Ferrell ... Betty McAllister
Vincent Laresca ... Navarro
Learn more

More Like This 

Certificate: 14A Crime | Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

A man against capital punishment is accused of murdering a fellow activist and is sent to death row.

Director: Alan Parker
Stars: Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet, Laura Linney
Certificate: PG Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.2/10 X  

A young boy attempts to make the world a better place after his teacher gives him that chance.

Director: Mimi Leder
Stars: Kevin Spacey, Haley Joel Osment, Helen Hunt
Certificate: 14A Action | Crime | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

In a desperate attempt to prove his innocence, a skilled police negotiator accused of corruption and murder takes hostages in a government office to gain the time he needs to find the truth.

Director: F. Gary Gray
Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey, David Morse
Drama | Fantasy | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.9/10 X  

An impromptu goodbye party for Professor John Oldman becomes a mysterious interrogation after the retiring scholar reveals to his colleagues he has a longer and stranger past than they can imagine.

Director: Richard Schenkman
Stars: David Lee Smith, Tony Todd, John Billingsley
Certificate: 14 Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.1/10 X  

A computer scientist running a virtual reality simulation of 1937 becomes the primary suspect when his colleague and mentor is murdered.

Director: Josef Rusnak
Stars: Craig Bierko, Gretchen Mol, Armin Mueller-Stahl
Moon (2009)
Certificate: 14A Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.9/10 X  

Astronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet's power problems.

Director: Duncan Jones
Stars: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey, Dominique McElligott
Frequency (2000)
Certificate: 14A Crime | Drama | Mystery
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

An accidental cross-time radio link connects father and son across 30 years. The son tries to save his father's life, but then must fix the consequences.

Director: Gregory Hoblit
Stars: Dennis Quaid, Jim Caviezel, Shawn Doyle
The Jacket (2005)
Certificate: 14 Drama | Fantasy | Mystery
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.1/10 X  

A Gulf war veteran is wrongly sent to a mental institution for insane criminals, where he becomes the object of a doctor's experiments, and his life is completely affected by them.

Director: John Maybury
Stars: Adrien Brody, Keira Knightley, Daniel Craig
Contact (1997)
Certificate: PG Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.4/10 X  

Dr. Ellie Arroway, after years of searching, finds conclusive radio proof of extraterrestrial intelligence, sending plans for a mysterious machine.

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Stars: Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Skerritt
Certificate: 14A Drama | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.2/10 X  

A highly advanced robotic boy longs to become "real" so that he can regain the love of his human mother.

Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O'Connor
Gattaca (1997)
Certificate: PG Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

A genetically inferior man assumes the identity of a superior one in order to pursue his lifelong dream of space travel.

Director: Andrew Niccol
Stars: Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Jude Law
Dark City (1998)
Certificate: 14A Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

A man struggles with memories of his past, which includes a wife he cannot remember, and a nightmarish world, no one else seems to be waking up from.

Director: Alex Proyas
Stars: Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly
Edit

Storyline

PROT is a patient at a mental hospital who claims to be from a faraway planet named K-PAX. His psychiatrist tries to help him, only to begin to doubt his own explanations.

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

Change the way you look at the world. See more »

Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi

Certificate:

PG | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

View content advisory »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

The term K-PAX is short for kilopascals, a measurement of pressure; it is the metric equivalent of pounds per square inch. While the word is properly abbreviated as kPa, K-PAX can often be found on many consumer gadgets, such as gauges that measure tire pressure. See more »

Goofs

When Dr. Chakraborty is talking about Prot's vision, he describes him being able to see ultraviolet at 300-400 ångström. Generally in the context of vision, ultraviolet wavelength is ~280-400 nanometers or only 2800-4000 ångström. See more »

Quotes

Prot: You seem overly upset, Mark. To borrow a phrase from Navarro, you need to chill.
See more »

Crazy Credits

After the credits, there's a view of the stars and then Dr. Mark Powell looks through the lens of his telescope as if he is looking for the stars of K-PAX. He walks in his yard, and the movie ends. See more »

Connections

Referenced in 30 Rock: Khonani (2010) See more »

Soundtracks

Rocket Man
Written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin
Performed by Elton John
Courtesy of Mercury Records Ltd. (London)
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises
See more »

User Reviews

 
Great
18 December 2004 | by dav7nineSee all my reviews

This film IS brilliant...... without a doubt. Watched it a while ago after constant pestering from family members who are right into their sci-fi films (which I am not), and thought it was quite good. But after recently watching a few documentaries on outer-space etc we watched it again... and it IS good.

Kevin Spacey is without doubt one of the greatest actors ever and I really like Jeff Bridges (Big Lewbowski, Blown Away, Arlington Road). The film revolves around a patient in a nursing home who claims he is from another planet. Yeah right, you think... but what if his story is so believable that even his psychiatrist begins to wonder if he is telling the truth.

That is how the story evolves with Bridges going through all kinds of emotions dealing with Prot (as he is known), his own psychiatric colleagues, his wife and family, his brother-in-law and his cosmologist astronomer work colleagues (who after getting some data from Prot, pretty much admit that he might be telling the truth!) A great film... that get's you wondering.....

8/10 Dave


85 of 97 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you? | Report this
Review this title | See all 554 user reviews »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more »
Edit

Details

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 October 2001 (USA) See more »

Also Known As:

K-PAX - L'homme qui vient de loin See more »

Edit

Box Office

Budget:

$68,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$17,215,275, 28 October 2001

Gross USA:

$50,338,485

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$65,001,485
See more on IMDbPro »

Company Credits

Show more on IMDbPro »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
See full technical specs »

Contribute to This Page

We've Got Your Streaming Picks Covered

Looking for some great streaming picks? Check out some of the IMDb editors' favorites movies and shows to round out your Watchlist.



Recently Viewed