Review of The Astronaut Farmer (2007) by Paige M — 13 Oct 2010

Billy Bob Thornton's latest film, Astronaut Farmer, opens with the quintessential silhouette shot used in contemporary movies to try to draw a visual parallel for the audience between the image on the screen and classic, old Western films.

Unfortunately, this is the type of film opening that tends to signal to the viewer that the upcoming movie is one which fails simply because it tries too hard to succeed. Such is the case with Astronaut Farmer.

Against a sky colored by the rising sun, we see the outline of a lone horse and rider moving across a stereotypically 'Western' landscape (picture rocky terrain, tumbleweeds, cacti). After a moment or two, the camera focuses in on the rider only to reveal that he is wearing a full space suit, helmet and all.

The premise of Astronaut Farmer is (unfortunately) exactly as the film's title suggests: a failed astronaut-turned-rancher named Charlie Farmer (Billy Bob Thornton) is building a nuclear-warhead-style rocket in a large barn on his Texas ranch. The former astronaut intends to pilot this home-made vessel into space, much to the chagrin of NASA, the FBI, and a number of other U.S. government organizations.

Astronaut Farmer attempts to illustrate the way in which Charlie Farmer's obsession with the rocket (at one point its suggested name is "La Otra Mujer," or "The Other Woman," a reference to Charlie's wife, played by Virginia Madsen) unites his sickeningly perfect family with a common dream, to see Charlie orbit the Earth in his homemade rocket. At the same time, the movie attempts to address the way in which Farmer's dream threatens his family, both ideologically and physically.

Whether Astronaut Farmer was meant to be a feel-good family movie or some type of drama-comedy hybrid ("dramedy"?) remains unclear. The film is replete with exceedingly dry humor that children and even many adults may not find particularly amusing, and combined with some surprisingly dark tearjerker moments (based on the film's PG rating, that is) it is uncertain whether the target audience was intended to be children, their parents, or some other mystery group.

Co-written and directed by Michael Polish, Astronaut Farmer is the fourth film that the former-actor-turned-director has directed, following such obscure films as Northfork (2003) and Jackpot (2001). Overall, Astronaut Farmer has a very segmented feel that may be attributable to the fact that it was written not only by director Michael Polish, but by his identical twin brother, actor Mark Polish, as well.

A surprise appearance by Bruce Willis towards the end of the movie looks like a last-ditch effort to make the film worthwhile, but even the presence of the Die Hard star cannot fully compensate for the film's shortcomings.

Fortunately, Astronaut Farmer is not entirely without merit. Billy Bob Thornton delivers an excellent performance as Charlie Farmer, one reminiscent of the actor's serious yet subtly funny rendition of the President of the United States in Richard Curtis' Love Actually (2003).

In addition to Thornton's performance, the film also contains several cinematically impressive shots scattered throughout, although these may be lost for the average viewer among the confusion other aspects of the film creates.