Title: Hokey Hollywood junk
Review: Everything wrong with Hollywood movies is found in this movie. The central concept of how the Earthlings would deal with knowledge of the existence of an alien civilization is dealt with in a superficial and melodramatic way. The actors' were all melodramatic, though some of this may be blamed on the screenplay. Foster gave a very bad and unconvincing performance. When push came to shove, she wimped out in her defense of her atheism (though that's the screenwriter's fault). She was horribly miscast. To this day, she still looks like a teenage tomboy. Only Skerritt and Hurt gave convincing and interesting performances. If you're watching this on cable, skip the first 40 minutes. If this is truly an accurate rendition of Sagan's novel (which I haven't read), then I owe the film's makers and actors an apology. But from a purely cinematic viewpoint, it's extremely disappointing.
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