Sharply uneven, Robert Zemeckis sci-fi film, Contact, tries to do too much. It tris to offer timely observations about science and technology, to provide political commentary, to raise some spiritual questions, and to throw in romantic story.
But above all, the movie serves as star vehicle for the gifted Jodie Foster, who looks terrific and gets to display her impressive acting range.
When the story begins, Ellie Arroway is an eccentric, curious, ultra bright girl, feeling strongly that one day she would magically connect with distant voices on her father’s shortwave radio.
She’s known it since college, when she chose the search for intelligent extraterrestrial messages as her discipline. She’s known it since she bargained for just hours a week of satellite time to sweep the heavens for evidence.
Ellie feels the most alive and connected whenever she stares at the sky with its countless stars dappling the infinity. Something is out there, but what exactly is it? In their overwrought scenario, James V. hart and Michael Goldenberg offer only signs and clues about the mystery at the center of them film—and you keep waiting for some big revelations about the mysteries of the universe, which never arrive.
MPAA: PG
Release date: July 11, 1997
Running time: 150 Minutes
Cast
Jodie Foster as Ellie Arroway
Matthew McConaughey as Palmer Joss
James Woods as Michael Kitz
John Hurt as S.R. Hadden
Tom Skerritt as David Drumlin
William Fichtner as Kent
