Space, with a spider...

There are very few Adam Sandler movies I actually like. For the most part it's the same movie over and over again. It's okay sometimes. But I have to be in the mood to waste a couple of hours watching one of his movies. I guess you might say I have a love hate relationship with him and his work. Most of it, is very "Meh".

There's only one Adam Sandler movie I will watch over and over again- outside of "Eight Crazy Nights", which my family insists is a "Christmas movie". That movie would be, you probably guessed this one, "Happy Gilmore". And it's really not even a good movie, it's just super nostalgic. There are some other movies he's in that are good, but they don't have a replay value- case in point "Reign Over Me", "Punch Drunk Love", and "Uncut Gems" among others. They're good movies, but they just aren't worth watching multiple times, especially Uncut Gems. 

So when "Spaceman" popped up on Netflix I just didn't care much, but then, for some reason it started auto playing. It sucked me in. I am not saying it was a good movie, I am saying it sucked me in, in the same way that "Dream Scenario" with Nicolas Cage did.  It's too weird to pass up. Seems like I am seeing "these" movies more and more, and I guess that's okay because Spaceman is a movie that makes you think. It makes you feel a little, and it makes you shrug your shoulders and go "WTF did I just watch?". I did find myself thinking about its message for a couple of days, and I think that's the point. 

So, here we go, lets dive in. 

The plot in this movie is kind of like "Solaris" meets "Charlottes Web" meets "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." Yeah, it's exactly that kind of weird. I think I can sum it up pretty quickly though- like this: A spaceman is traveling to the outskirts of Jupiter where a large purple cloud has appeared. The cloud is, of course, of unknown origin. The spaceman is losing everything to be there, including his wife and family. Just before he gets to the cloud to gather samples, a large space spider appears on his ship. The wise old spider wants to explore his psyche and figure out what makes humans tick and help the spaceman resolve some of his own hangups. Shenanigans ensue and the spaceman and the spider become friends with "Nutella benefits" (you'll get that joke if you watch the movie). Throughout the movie the audience isn't really sure that the giant-space-shrink-spider is real or a product of the spaceman's isolation. That's it, in a nut shell. That being said, it's a new spin on an old plot.

The writing in this film is good, at times it's great. Some of the lines are bordering on poignant. It's a very cerebral movie and some of the lines are pointed in a way that was designed to make the audience think. It's just sort of an awkward positioning though, and the context is off. I appreciate what the writers were trying to do, but some of what should have been written in, wasn't. 

The movie leaves the viewer feeling hollow and unresolved because there is so much context missing. However, the writing shines at times, at others, it doesn't. Everything is out of place, and maybe that's important to the message. It's sure not a comfortable one. There is a reoccurring question throughout the movie- Is the giant space psychiatrist spider real, or is it a figment of the main characters imagination? It's the old "top trick" from the movie "Inception", was it all just a dream? I guess we'll never know. Or maybe we will.

There isn't any action in this movie. It's isn't about action, therefore, it does a nice job of skirting the need for it. Which is just fine with me because it would have been to much out of place weirdness for almost anyone. Do not go into this one expecting your typical science fiction movie because it's just not that at all. I struggle to call it a science fiction movie. 

The acting is flat. I am not even going to sugar coat this. It's really flat. At least with Adam Sandler's character- Jakub. I am not sure if this was what they were shooting for. I just can't buy the redemption arc, or what ever it is that they are trying to make obvious in this movie. The main character's wife, Lenka, played by Carey Mulligan does great with the acting. This slaps the viewer around every time they switch between Earth and the Spaceship out by Jupiter. Like I said, maybe that was the plan, but it doesn't make for good viewing. It makes for rough viewing.

Special effects are standard in this movie, nothing to write home about. They are as I would expect them to be. Although I thought they did a really good job with the Zero-G on the space station. Everything moves as it should move in space- the weightless trailing of items feels accurate to the environment in the film. I actually found my self asking how they did it. So there's that. Sometimes the spider feels off, but I guess it's technically a space-alien-mind-probe so there's that. The accompanying music is also average- it's not good, it's not bad, it's just music.

As I have stated, the thing that drew me in about this movie is that it makes a person think. Some of the concepts and ideas presented in it are "inner self" type things. They're common to all people and they are captured very well in the movie. This movie has more in it about isolation than anything else, if I were to put words to it, this movie is about overcoming and understanding how we all sometimes wind up isolating ourselves to protect our inner selves. 

To sum up- this movie is worth a watch once, not much more than that. It does have some things going for it, but for the most part it's average- not bad, and not great either. It falls somewhere in the middle, outside of "hell yes", and "hell naw". I would give it a solid 6.5 out of ten hairy legs, which kind of lines up with what it scores over on Rotten Tomatoes. They give it a 5.2 out of ten.

Hope you found this informative.

Cheers!