Phenomenon

1996
PG
2h 3m

IMDb RATING

6.4/10

85K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer2:44

Drama Fantasy Romance Sci-Fi

An ordinary man sees a bright light descend from the sky, and discovers he now has super-intelligence and telekinesis.An ordinary man sees a bright light descend from the sky, and discovers he now has super-intelligence and telekinesis.An ordinary man sees a bright light descend from the sky, and discovers he now has super-intelligence and telekinesis.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.4/10

85K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

3,815

203

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 7 wins & 8 nominations

Videos3

Trailer 2:44

Official Trailer

Clip 1:05

Phenomenon: 15th Anniversary Edition

Clip 1:05

Phenomenon: 15th Anniversary Edition

Clip 1:14

Phenomenon: 15th Anniversary Edition

Photos99

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Assuming the man in Dr. Bob Niedorf's (Brent Spiner's) question is from California, then the question is answered at 12:12 p.m. on July 26, 1996.

Goofs
Early in the film, George talks to the two children who are in their mother's pick-up truck parked on the street, with the boy sitting in the driver's seat pretending he's driving. George asks the boy to "Pop the hood", which is followed by the sound of the hood latch being released as though the boy did indeed release the hood from the driver's position. This is impossible, as vehicles of that pick-up truck's vintage (late '50's) did not have hood releases located inside the vehicle. Instead, the hood release lever was activated by reaching through the grill on the front of the vehicle.

Quotes
Dr. Bob Niedorf: All right, I'll start the questions, and I'll be timing your responses, and we'll be recording. Any questions?
George Malley: What's your first name?
Dr. Bob Niedorf: Uh, my first name is Bob.
[George reaches across the wide table to shake hands]
George Malley: Shoot, Bob.
Dr. Bob Niedorf: Right. Name as many mammals as you can in 60 seconds. Ready? Go.
[Starts stopwatch]
George Malley: Hmm. 60 seconds. Well, how would you like that? How about alphabetical? Aardvark, baboon, caribou, dolphin, eohippus, fox, gorilla, hyena, ibex, jackal, kangaroo, lion, marmoset, Newfoundland, ocelot, panda, rat, sloth, tiger, unicorn, varmint, whale, yak, zebra. Now "varmint" is a stretch; so is "Newfoundland" (that's a dog breed); "unicorn" is mythical; "eohippus" is prehistoric. But you weren't being very specific, now, were you, Bob?
Dr. Bob Niedorf: [pauses, then stops watch and laughs] Well! Ahh, I'll, uh - I'll try to be more specific. You ready for the next one?
George Malley: Shoot.
Dr. Bob Niedorf: Answer as quickly as you can... how old is a person born in 1928?
[starts stopwatch]
George Malley: Man or a woman?
Dr. Bob Niedorf: [stops stopwatch and pauses] Why?
George Malley: Specifics, Bob.
Dr. Bob Niedorf: Okay, one more time. How old is a MAN born in 1928?
[starts stopwatch]
George Malley: Still alive?
Dr. Bob Niedorf: [stops watch, pauses, nods] If a man is born in 1928, and he's still alive, how old is he?
[starts stopwatch]
George Malley: What month?
Dr. Bob Niedorf: [stops stopwatch] If a man was born October 3rd, 1928, and he's still alive, how old is he?
[starts stopwatch]
George Malley: What time?
Dr. Bob Niedorf: [stops stopwatch] 10 o'clock... PM!
[starts stopwatch]
George Malley: Where?
Dr. Bob Niedorf: [stops stopwatch; now impatient] Anywhere!
George Malley: Well, let's get specific, Bob! I mean, if the guy's still alive, born in California, October 3rd, 1928, 10 PM, he's 67 years, 9 months, 22 days, 14 hours, and...
[takes Bob's hand to see his wristwatch]
George Malley: ... and 12 minutes. If he was born in New York, he's 3 hours older, now isn't he?

Alternate versions
ABC network television version features alternate/new footage not present in the theatrical and home video releases.

Connections
Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Striptease/Cold Fever/The Nutty Professor/A Perfect Candidate/Maybe, Maybe Not (1996)

Soundtracks
Love Child
Written by R. Dean Taylor (as R.D. Taylor), Frank Wilson (as F. Wilson), Pam Sawyer (as P. Sawyer) and Deke Richards (as D. Lussier)
Performed by Diana Ross & The Supremes
Courtesy of Motown Records Company, L.P.
By arrangement with PolyGram Film & TV Licensing

User reviews158

Review

Featured review

More than it might seem to be

I think any movie that can be described as both (a) a Scientology recruiting pamphlet, and (b) an analogy to Jesus' life has to be a bit out of the ordinary. In some ways, this film reminds me of another seeming science fiction movie that really turned out to be about people's response to the unusual: `Charly' In both films an extraordinary increase in intelligence frightened the people around the main character; they just couldn't deal with it and feared him for it. The love story was a gem. Lacy had obviously been badly hurt by a past relationship, and simply didn't want to encourage George's love. But when he began to be hurt by the way some of his friends treated him, she warmed and opened her heart to him. The way George tried to describe how he looked at things differently and saw relationships that he'd never seen before reminded me of classical descriptions of the act of creativity in many fields. And it's a sad thing but true that we are all capable of concentrating harder and focusing on things to achieve more, but it's very difficult, and more often than not, we tend to take the easier road. Good thought-provoking flick.