Introducing The Closet Critic! A Review of The Astronaut Farmer

Austinella is pleased to announce that we now have a contributing film critic on board, "The Closet Critic" who shall remain anonymous!

The Astronaut Farmer of course starred Billy Bob Thornton, who is near and dear to Austin, Texas, and also a musician-turned-actor! I know we are not supposed to mention his film career. But we can't help stirring the pot.

Here is the review:

The mainstream debut from cult director Michael Polish and his writer/producer partner brother Mark Polish has the distinction of both innovative and familiar. It takes a family friendly premise that's right out of a mediocre to awful live action Disney movie of the 1960s, and goes back and forth with playing by ultra modern rules and working by the numbers. What we get from that is a thrill ride that is as exciting as the dreams within the semi-fantasy plot, as we never know how it's going to turn out.

The premise of a simple farmer wanting to launch himself into space has potential for younger audiences, and the child inside the adult viewer, and this movie is careful not to play directly to one or the other. Billy Bob Thornton plays a farmer named (get this) Farmer. He's an airforce veteran who had been discharged from NASA's space program. Although Farmer has a loving family and a smile to offer the world normally, his well being is hanging by a thread with a threat of foreclosure and a hurtful past that resulted from his father's setting an anti-example. He escapes into making a pipe dream a reality, and building a rocket that he has every intention of launching himself to space in.

Virginia Madsen plays his torn wife who can't seem to decide whether to be supportive or play it safe and encourage him to be more down to earth. The father manages to keep the three kids on his own side by playing to their standard childhood desires. The FBI, CIA, and US military all get word of his intention, and major efforts to stop the launch are taken throughout the film, with our hero maintaining a carefree determined attitude that can't be beaten down. Thornton pretty much becomes the role, and plays off both the charming and clumsy way he can come across.

Madsen is slightly miscast, although she tries hard, and it's a little confusing at times to see exactly what her character's place in the plot is. Max Theroit, Jasper Polish, and Logan Polish are also rather bland as the children, although they get by just either playing it cute or overly melodramatizing. The winning role is Bruce Dern as Madsen's father, who is not afraid to settle comfortably into the worn but well spirited grandfather character that may be where he finds future work.

How this movie takes deep dark serious issues that are no fantasy or laughing matter, and plays them up against the dreams of a character such as farmer is worth experiencing. One moment, we are engulfed in innovative cult techniques that overemphasize art based on depression, and the next we're on a ride at the county fair. How it manages to keep a consistent tone is unique, if not overly amazing.

The cast is rounded out by some very fine support from familiar faces, including Jon Gries, who has appeared in all of the Polish brother movies, in a great recurring comedic relief role, along with Mark Polish, as FBI agents sent to keep a close look on the scene, Tim Blake Nelson as an attorney friend, J.K. Simmonds as a cocky authority figure, and a major well known movie actor who appears unbilled (I won't spoil) as former fellow trainee that completed the astronaut program and is now either an ally or a threat.

This movie really did make me think twice about blowing off my pursuing some of my wildest dreams like I have done in the past.