Rating: Half-Full

Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama

Studios: Netflix

Cast: Adam Sandler, Carey Mulligan, Kunal Nayyar, Lena Olin, Isebella Rossellini, and Paul Dano

Director: Johan Renck

Writer: Colby Day

Based on: the novel Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar

Producers: Lia Buman, Reid Carolin, Timothy Headington, Peter Kiernan, Michael Parets, Max Silva and Channing Tatum

Music by: Max Richter

Rated: R for language

Release Date: 02/23/24

Runtime: 1h 47m

Tagline: N/A

Favorite Character: Hanus

Quote: “you may have boundaries, Skinny Human, Perhaps they are the cause of your loneliness.”- Hanus

Fun Fact: During filming, Carey Mulligan was really 8 months pregnant.

The Review: Adam Sandler has played different roles in 51 movies. That includes a dad, a golfer, a gambler, a vampire even a old class pet. Now let me tell you, this is like one of the few times Adam Sandler steps out of the Comedy and into the more dramatic genre. But instead of being a gambler, he is a lonesome astronaut who encounters bizarre moments along the way.

Sandler plays a Czech cosmonaut Jakub Prochazka who was in space for 6 months so far, determined to explore purple space dust before the South Korean astronauts. It lays besides Jupiter that is a spectacle when you see it from earth. Jakub was being troubled by his time on earth as he has a rocky relationship with his wife Lenka (Carey Mulligan). She was pregnant for a second time, Unfortunally her first time was a mother worst nightmare, miscarriage. What doesn’t make it better was rather than being there for her, he is more focused on his career. Despite all that, she still tries to contact her husband with no luck.

Meanwhile, Jakub is having a situation on his own. It started with him having a dream when something is crawling in Jakub’s face. It’s pretty clear that its a spider, but the effect on Sandler’s face is fake looking. That might be scary in 1979’s Alien, but in Spaceman, it looks ridiculous! And speaking of Aliens, There’s a unwelcome stowaway on the ship. And that stowaway is just a giant talking spider voiced by Paul Deno. Fortunally, Deno’s performance as a ET spider is a highlight of the story. And he is trying to be a wise man on the mountain kind of character giving advice to Jakub. What makes the spider interesting was his name. Jakub named him Hanus, after a legendary builder who constructed a astronomical clock in Prague.

Before watching the movie, you might get an idea that it’s about loneliness with emotion. However, it’s not just that. There is also something else that plays the part of the film. This movie contains something as Hunus likes to call ‘The Beginning of the Universe’ It could be literally or figuratively. Or both. Either way, it didn’t really give us a convincing message of life. And while that’s true, The begining of the Universe was really pretty to look at.

Johan Renck’s feature film may really be a little bit confusing, but as long as it has a visually dazzling climax, i think it would make an OK watch. The space odyssey is like Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar but instead of finding a new planet, Spaceman focuses more on a message with weird content.