The Astronaut Farmer (2006)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Michael Polish

Writers (WGA):

Mark Polish (written by) &
Michael Polish (written by)

Release Date:

23 February 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama

Tagline:

If we don't have our dreams, we have nothing.

Plot:

A NASA astronaut (Thornton), forced to retire years earlier so he could save his family farm, has never give up his dream of space travel and looks to build his own rocket, despite the government's threats to stop him.

Plot Keywords:

Rocket | Space | Ranch | Astronaut | Father Son Relationship

Cast

Billy Bob Thornton	...	Charles Farmer
Virginia Madsen	...	Audrey 'Audie' Farmer
Max Thieriot	...	Shepard Farmer
Jasper Polish	...	Stanley Farmer
Logan Polish	...	Sunshine Farmer
Bruce Dern	...	Hal
Mark Polish	...	FBI Agent Mathis
Jon Gries	...	FBI Agent Killbourne
Tim Blake Nelson	...	Kevin Munchak
Sal Lopez	...	Pepe Garcia
J.K. Simmons	...	Jacobson
Kiersten Warren	...	Phyllis
Rick Overton	...	Arnold 'Arnie' Millard
Richard Edson	...	Chopper Miller
Elise Eberle	...	Madison Roberts

MPAA:

Rated PG for thematic material, peril and language.

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG | Portugal:M/12 | Germany:6 | Netherlands:6 | Finland:K-3 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Dunkin' Donuts - 1085 S. Saint Francis Drive, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

During the filming in and around Santa Fe, New Mexico, Billy Bob Thornton did a "One stop promotion tour" as he put it, for both his album Hobo, and The Astronaut Farmer at the Santa Fe bookstore, Borders.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The orbital views of Africa and Baja California are not accurate for a craft in a low orbit, and would require a much higher altitude.

Quotes:

Arnold 'Arnie' Milan: You got bad credit, but, uh, you got great character.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "HypaSpace: (#6.25)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

The Imperial March

Slow and corny

"If we don't have our dreams, we have nothing" Charles Farmer

How do you take an inherently interesting story about a former pilot and astronaut drop out, who launches himself into orbit, and make that story slow, dull, and corny? The Polish brothers (director, writers) achieve that state possibly because the modest $13 million budget is still much more than they ever had and their approach is too reverential to the hero, who by any standards pursues a quixotic goal of launching himself at the risk of jettisoning his family and close friends.

Charles Farmer (Billie Bob Thornton) is determined to achieve his goal in the face of losing his too well ordered and clean farm and his loving, dutiful, and way too accepting wife, Audrey (Virginia Madsen). Thornton, underplaying with that fetching drawl and highly-developed outsider persona, does a credible job of dreaming his impossible dream without appearing unstable or psychotic. Madsen, while always attractive, has such a clichéd part as the long-suffering mate that the character could appear to be even more unrealistic than her husband.

The two young daughters mug for the camera or make too much happy to be credible. Only two characters ring true all the time: Farmer's son, Shephard (Max Thierot), who is cool as a teen mission controller; and an uncredited Bruce Willis, who plays an ex-astronaut friend of Farmer trying to talk him out of a potentially disastrous launch. Everyone else is a caricature, as the film itself is almost a parody of the American dream: It relies on the American tradition of individualism, evenat the expense of those closest to the dreamer. That's an American tragedy.