Space Cadet movie review: Absurd but fairly entertaining

Space Cadet

On: Amazon Prime Video
Dir: Liz W Garcia
Cast: Emma Roberts, Tom Hopper, Poppy Liu, Gabrielle Union
Rating: ''1/2

Space Cadet is a film not meant to be taken seriously. It's a light, absurd screwball comedy that happens to be fairly entertaining. Tiffany "Rex" Simpson (Emma Roberts) dreamed of going to space from the time she was a little girl. Then her mother contracted cancer and she, despite being the most enterprising among her peers, had to drop out of school. After being reminded of her ambition by bestie Nadine (Poppy Liu), she checks the NASA website for opportunities and finds out they are recruiting astronauts for a mission into space. She believes she can prepare a standout resume to give herself some chance, but her friend doctors the same and sends it off. So Rex manages to get into NASA's ultra-competitive astronaut training programme through fraudulent means and finds herself in over her head. The Florida girl relies on her quick wits, moxie and determination to get through some of the training, before she gets found out.

The narrative is not inventive nor does it try for high stakes. The simplistic approach though is the charm here. Writer-director Liz W Garcia gets us involved in a story that has a bartender becoming an astronaut, but only after submitting a fraudulent application, which conveniently goes unchecked. Rex survives several rounds of The ASCANS (Astronaut Candidate) programme so we all know where she is headed, even after being found out. You also get a budding romance between Rex and Senior Astronaut Logan O Leary (Tom Hopper). Obviously, we are not expected to take any of the shenanigans here seriously. This is a well-meaning exercise in self-esteem and motivation building. Rex is intelligent and enterprising, but circumstances lead her to adapt to reality. It may not be what she wanted for herself, but she still managed to make a mark in whatever she was doing.

The cast works up enough chemistry to make things interesting. But the characters are not really fleshed out. Everything seems so flighty and chancy that its difficult to get a hold on. Space Cadet is ultimately a mildly rousing story of a pretty blonde making it in a tough environment. The film exists in an alt-fantasy universe. Garcia's script may not be intelligent, but it does have the astuteness to make us smile at Rex's antics. This film is not grounded in reality, but it has enough smarts to take your mind off yours. The movie itself is funny and sweet; and Emma Roberts makes Rex fairly convincing.

'YUCK ''WHATEVER '''GOOD ''''SUPER '''''AWESOME