Trailer
Plot summary
In a small California town, George Malley works on cars for a living and quietly buys the handmade chairs that Lace leaves at his shop, though she keeps her distance. On his thirty-seventh birthday, after drinks with his friend Nate and Doc Brunder, a ball of white light falls from the sky, strikes him, and knocks him down. Nobody else sees or hears it. In the weeks that follow, George reads through the night, absorbs information at a remarkable rate, and moves objects with his mind. He puts the changes to use around town, devising a powerful fertilizer, improving solar panel designs, and foreseeing an earthquake without any equipment.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Phenomenon (1996)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Screenwriter Gerald Di Pego said the philosophy of Zen influenced the conception of George's tapping of his mind's potential, and the movie also draws on Scientology, of which actor John Travolta is a member, taking from L. Ron Hubbard's book Dianetics.
- James Berardinelli of ReelViews compared the film to Forrest Gump, but with half of Forrest's intelligence, and criticized the script as abysmal, calling it loaded with the kind of doctrine that Scientologists preach.
