In her latest film “Space Cadet,” Emma Roberts’s character wants to go into space, which is the plot of the harmless comedy directed and cowritten by Liz W. Garcia. For certain, this is a film that I believe tries to be pro feminine and has a good take on second chances while trying to achieve dreams. That said however, when the film puts the suspension of disbelief to such a test, it becomes difficult to take such arguments completely to heart.
When it comes to American space program history, it seems that “Space cadet” is yet another film that barely scratched the surface. It includes a few phrases appropriate for the context and there are segments filmed at the US Space and Rocket Center. But even if it has some logic, plenty of things are irresponsible, especially the picture of NASA. Sure it is a work of fiction and it is probably not realistic. But what kind of country would back such an incompetent space program.It’s safe to say the aerospace agency will not promote “Space Cadet” for its recruitment purposes.
The character who shines the most is Roberts as she attempts to salvage whatever she is provided with during the film. She plays Tiffany “Rex” Simpson, an extravagant party girl from Florida with high aspirations as a child of becoming an astronaut. Nowadays, she pours drinks at a beach bar and in her spare time, rescues manatees. She resides with her father, Calvin, an individual who conducts ghost touring businesses and is still trying to come to terms with his wife’s passing away which occurred a decade ago. Oh and let’s not forget, she has a quirky best friend, Nadine (Poppy Liu), because no story is complete without a humorous best friend who is quirky and just there to provide humor relief to the film.
After what seems like an epiphany, Rex states she wants to be an astronaut once again. Thus, she goes to apply for the NASA Training Program as thought being an astronaut only needed filling out an application. Nadine gets her hands on the application Rex so innocently fills out and decides to edit it, adding exaggerations to Rex’s accomplishments. Wouldn’t you know it, this obnoxiously inept NASA accepts Rex and meets the requirements to be part of an exclusive program (so I guess that is what it takes to be an astronaut in this reality).
Rex voyaged to Houston’s Johnson Space Center to the elite group of trainees whom NASA had considered worthy of employment. The selected few will participate in an expedition to the International Space Station. Clearly, the optimistic and cheerful Rex does not fit in with the stern faces of people who are true geniuses. To her surprise, one by one, she starts winning them all over including her superiors. Among them is the ridiculously handsome yet outrageously stupid, Logan O’Leary (Tom Hopper). He is the Deputy Director of Operations, and an astronaut who is mainly there to be the future boyfriend of Rex.
You’ll find it hard to believe but that is the most realistic aspect of the movie. It only gets worse from here. So much so that the ridiculousness remains front and center and there is no effort to fight it. Therefore, the characters do not fare any better and the plot too falls apart completely. They are all written so poorly which is why they can’t even convincingly tell the silly story that they are chained to. This is disappointing, particularly when you watch Roberts and she’s giving it her all. To be fair, she makes the film bearable. But as every actor, there can only be so much done with bad material. I can only recommend “Space Cadets” which is now available on Prime Video.
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