Spaceman
Good performances by the actors and a fascinating premise fail to buoy this sci-fi dud.
Full Disclosure: I ceased to be a fan of Adam Sandler’s comedy when I was around 14. I’ll still throw on Happy Gilmore or The Waterboy now and then for nostalgia’s sake, but that’s neither here nor there. I have loved Sandler’s periodic turns as a dramatic actor. From Reign Over Me to Punch Drunk Love to Uncut Gems, Sandler has proven more than capable of delivering a powerhouse performance when called upon to do so.
Review
When I heard that Adam Sandler was doing a sci-fi drama set in space where Paul Dano lends his voice to a giant alien spider, I was pumped! Sadly, this film fell far short of my lofty expectations. I didn’t expect it to be a seminal masterpiece, but I did expect a weird character piece worthy of my all-too-precious time. Spaceman just doesn’t deliver.
Sandler does his damndest here, but the film just falls short.
To be fair, Spaceman has its merits. Adam Sandler and Carey Mulligan deliver performances that outshine the material they’re given by a mile. To that point, can we take a quick second to give Carey Mulligan her flowers? Since last August alone, she’s been in Maestro, Saltburn, and Spaceman, and has been brilliant in all three endeavors. She is one of the best, and most consistent, actresses of our time.
Sandler is not at fault here. He gives his all as Jakup Prochazka, a lone Czech cosmonaut tasked with traveling beyond Jupiter. His mission: Investigate a phenomenon in the form of a purple streak across the sky which has been visible from Earth for four years.
His journey (which he has voluntarily chosen to undertake) puts a massive strain on his marriage with his pregnant wife Lena (played by the aforementioned Mulligan). This through line is meant to be the heart of the story, but is it really?
“How the hell did my agent talk me into doing this film?”
Spoilers Ahead
Let’s start with the accents, or lack thereof. If this was a better film, this aspect would not have bumped me as much; but here we go… Sandler’s character is named Jakup Prochazka, and is born and raised in Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic. There is not the slightest hint of an accent that tells that this man is from Eastern Europe. Again, this isn’t Sandler’s fault.
It’s on the filmmakers. Why choose to have a Czech protagonist, then cast Sandler (who isn’t exactly renowned for his work as a chameleon-type actor)? Furthermore, Carey Mulligan retains her native British accent while playing a native Czech as well. Even the character Peter, (played by Kunal Nayyar), who is Jakup’s lifeline at mission control, has an Indian accent. Only the tertiary characters have a native accent. It’s not the most egregious sin, but it just comes off as lazy.
Sandler did his best…
One of the best aspects of Sandler’s previous forays into drama is that he is excellent at providing moments of levity. He is a comedian by trade, after all. The most shocking thing to me in this film is that Sandler is is talking to a giant fucking spider, yet there is only one line that made me chuckle. I didn’t go into this expecting a laugh riot, but good drama always has funny moments, just like good comedy always has dramatic moments.
The love story between Jakup and Lenka just doesn’t land the way it should. This should be a story about isolation and how being so alone can fuck with the human mind. This movie pretends to explore that, but doesn’t really hit the emotional notes that one would expect.
I haven’t even touched on the relationship between the cosmonaut and the alien spider that may-or-may-not-be real. I was expecting so much more out of this relationship than I wound up receiving. What shoudl’ve been a fucked up version of HAL-9000 mixed with Yoda turned out to be a lonely arachnoid mentoring a lonely human. It sounds like a really sweet story on the surface, but it just doesn’t deliver an effective emotional impact.
I think the bottom line here is that the material doesn’t rise to meet its overly ambitious premise. Director Johan Renck and writer Colby Day shot for the moon, and missed. If you want to be satisfied with similar subject matter, just rewatch Interstellar.
Hey cutie!
5 Quick hits
All credit to the VFX department. They managed to make an alien arachnoid, dare I say it… cute?
It’s pretty irresponsible, and damn near unconscionable, to give a lone cosmonaut a store of liquor in space. The Czech space program does not come off as a reputable institution in this film.
The fact that most of the tech in this film was 80’s based was a weird choice. It didn’t throw me, but it didn’t really do anything for the film either. Shrug.
The scenes where Sandler was floating around and eating his sleep drops were very well done.
Adam Sandler was the highest paid actor of 2023 with a cool $73 million under his belt. Let that sink in for a moment…
