John Travolta. Those two words sent millions of women (and men) around the world into a dancing delirium in the seventies. He could claim credit as the modern equivalent of the estrogen brigades (for the crazy "X-philes") of Fox Mudler and Deputy Director Skinner. But today, equipped with a big belly and that same disarming smile, he is proving to be something more than a passing fever. Together with the great cast of this latest effort from the Disney studios, Travolta elevates "Phenomenon" (telekinetically, no less) above the mass of mediocre summer releases. To doubt Thomas who thought his brilliant gunslinger performance in "Pulp Fiction" was just "luck," his portrayal of a simpleton with nothing but heart would have to reclassify Travolta from "comeback guy" to "comeback actor" talent"; he didn't let "Phenomenon" degenerate into "Forrest Gump Part 2". The similarities are obvious: a nice, simple boy earns the favor of Goddess Luck and does extraordinary things. Yet, that's all that there is. “Phenomenon” packs a greater density of reality than “Gump.” Countless scenes in “Gump” had me trying to pull the wool over my eyes just to keep from laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of it means suspending disbelief, it should never be equated with treating audiences like hordes of idiots. George Malley (Travolta), on the other hand, comes across very naturally (and believably) as a small-town simpleton. who doesn't know what to think of his very strange birthday "present". A flash of light and you flip through calculus books in a flash. This is not a matter of celestial intervention, but of liberating the possibility of what the mind is truly capable of. However, George soon discovers that he is incapable of one thing: influencing what others think. Small-town insecurities and parochialism soon turn the friends into fools who are more stupid than simpletons; with the exception of three very well chosen characters. Kyra Sedgwick plays Lace, George's love interest. The agony of going through the loss of his perfect family shows through his smiles. Despite her intent to keep George at arm's length, the headstrong Lace falls in love with George, with no small help from her two precocious sons. Gerard Dipego's choice to consider the two boys parallel and inverted in the relationship between adults is simply brilliant. She's the little girl who turns to George when Lace plays the mute girl "I want to keep my life simple"..