You either roll with the hokum or you don't. If you do, the essential message of realizing your dreams flies as well as Jimmy Stewart's angel wings. If you don't, reality is as close as the nearest window.
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02/23/07
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The Astronaut Farmer (2007)
60
%
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Reviews Counted:30
Fresh:18
Rotten:12
Average Rating:6/10
Consensus: The Astronaut Farmer is a charming, inspirational drama that successfully avoids modern cinematic cliches while appealing to the optimistic dreamer in all of us.
Theatrical Release:Feb 23, 2007 Wide
Box Office: $10,953,736
Synopsis: If twin filmmakers Mark and Michael Polish take cues from David Lynch, then THE ASTRONAUT FARMER is their version of THE STRAIGHT STORY. Though the brothers usually deal in the surreal (NORTHFORK)... [More]
Starring: Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Virginia Madsen, Bruce Dern
Director: Michael Polish
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Reviews for The Astronaut Farmer
Top CriticThe Astronaut Farmer's goofy quality makes it totally endearing. It's also super entertaining. Critics are fond of referring to movies as a 'great ride.' With this one, the words couldn't be more apt.
02/23/07
Top CriticFilled with lovely images (the opening credit sequence, of Charlie in his spacesuit, riding the range on horseback, is a beaut) and nice character turns, The Astronaut Farmer nonetheless veers too close to cliche.
02/23/07
Top CriticWhat could have been a sagebrush Fitzcarraldo wants to be a feel-good fable.
02/23/07
Top CriticI was content to go along for the ride with this excellently cast labor of love -- which shows just how much you can accomplish with $12 million and more imagination than most big-studio re leases can muster these days.
02/23/07
Top CriticIt's hard not to like a movie so determined to make you feel the love of a family, to make you feel that every dream can become a reality and that every mortgage can be rescued by the sudden death of a family member and his inheritance.
02/23/07
Top CriticThornton's serene certainty that he can touch the stars all on his own has an irresistible pull. Even as the sensible part of you is hoping he won't be a dadgum fool and endanger his life, the visionary thinks, go ahead. Try.
02/23/07
Top CriticLook, there's Bruce Willis, an old astronaut buddy from Farmer's aeronautics-training days! No, Mission Control, this isn't Armageddon. Ben Affleck is nowhere in sight...
02/23/07
Top CriticYou keep waiting for the other shoe to drop: When will the irony start? The twist is there isn't one. The Astronaut Farmer starts out looking like a parody of wholesome inspirational fare and then gets ever-more sincere and outlandish.
02/23/07
Top CriticThe Polish boys have a fine time poking fun at government paranoia, mass commercialization, bureaucrats, banks, WMDs and all manner of modern nonsense. But throughout the film two things remain central: Farmer's love of family and his dream.
02/23/07
Top CriticThough there is no lack of amusement in all this, the Polish brothers and the cast play it perfectly straight. Farmer is as determined to go to space as Mister Deeds is to go to town or Mr. Smith is to go to Washington.
02/23/07
Top CriticA movie that has more appealing elements than anything else [the Polish brothers have] done. On top of that, the movie is handsome visually, which helps paper over the fact that the script fires in several different directions.
02/23/07
Top CriticIt tries to be more than an amusing Disney sitcom about crazy dad and his big rocket. But it's somewhat less than a deep exploration of character and responsibility.
02/23/07
Top CriticOne of the loopiest inspirational-dreamer movies you'll ever see. This is the kind of film where you're watching some strange madness transpiring and you're thinking, 'I'll bet this is a dream sequence' -- only it's not, it's just more cheery weirdness.
02/23/07
Top CriticThe value of [Farmer's] dream and its potential for destruction are irrelevant. Refusing to accept defeat is all that matters -- at least if you're the designated good guy.
02/23/07
Top CriticFrom the very first shot of Thornton on horseback, herding stray cattle in his spacesuit, this is a work that often feels orchestrated instead of inspired, literal rather than ethereal.
02/23/07
Top CriticIt's impossible to take The Astronaut Farmer seriously on a literal or dramatic level if the ending's never in doubt. In the back of our minds, we have an idea where things will end up, so most of the movie is a waiting game.
02/23/07
Top CriticWith another actor in the title role (Kevin Costner, say, just off the top of my head) the mawkishness would be unbearable, but Mr. Thornton can be relied upon for understated dignity accompanied by an intriguing undertone of serious craziness.
02/23/07
Top CriticThis movie is some muddled imagineering. It's a glib fantasy that soars beyond the misinformation belt into the vacuous realm of misinspiration.
02/22/07
Top CriticThis is neither a satire nor an allegory. It's an infuriating and formulaic attempt at inspirational drama that panders so appallingly to an American audience hungry for uplifting tales of derring-do that it feels insulting from start to finish.
02/22/07
Top CriticLatest News for The Astronaut Farmer
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April 26, 2007:
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March 14, 2007:
Movies, even if they are ridiculous, are supposed to give us a desire to believe it could happen. This movie never comes close.
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March 05, 2007:
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