By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Adam Sandler is one of the biggest paradoxes in Hollywood…he’s mostly known for being a comedic goofball in movies like Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore, but then he turns around and kills it in a deadly serious movie like Uncut Gems. Considering that he followed that up with the barely-watchable comedy Hubie Halloween, it’s official: we never know what we’re going to get from this great actor hidden inside the body of the clown. Because of this uncertainty, I was pleasantly surprised that serious Sandler came out for Spaceman, a quirky sci-fi space adventure you can now stream on Netflix.
Adam Sandler In Space
Spaceman (based on Jaroslav Kalfař’s novel Spaceman of Bohemia) focuses on a Cosmonaut who heads into a long-term space mission with some major baggage. He’s had a falling out with his wife, who is understandably miffed that he ditched her and their unborn daughter to head to the stars. Amid this ironically down-to-earth drama is a new development: the cosmonaut finds a spider-like alien with telepathic abilities who wants to learn more about humanity. Their interactions help both of them learn a bit more about themselves and about the universe, but neither is fully prepared for where this voyage (both literally and metaphorically) is going to take them.
Adam Sandler headlines Spaceman as the cosmonaut in question, and he does an amazing job of channeling the complex emotions of a man who is constantly being driven forward even as he is constantly haunted by what he left behind. Costars include Carey Mulligan (who absolutely killed it in A Promising Young Woman and Maestro) as the cosmonaut’s wife. Meanwhile, the alien stowaway who telepathically bonds with our main character is voiced by Paul Dano, whom genre fans rightfully love for his performance as Riddler in The Batman.
Audiences React To Spaceman
Originally, Spaceman was going to premiere in 2023, but the SAG-AFTRA strike delayed its release until 2024. Once it debuted, almost nobody knew quite what to make of it: on Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a critical rating of 50 percent, with critics mostly complaining that the movie brings up a number of interesting ideas without fully engaging with them. Meanwhile, it has a Popcornmeter rating of 66 percent, with audiences generally agreeing that the film does a surprisingly good job of adapting a crunchy and complex novel for the silver screen.
Like the cosmonaut at the center of Spaceman, you’re probably wrestling with some uncomfortable questions right now, starting with why I’m recommending you watch a movie that few people have seen and that critics were unimpressed by. The first reason is Adam Sandler’s performance: while this move isn’t nearly as good as Uncut Gems, it’s another powerful example (a bit like Punch Drunk Love before it) of how good this funnyman can be when he decides to be a serious actor. Plus, his extensive experience in both comedic and dramatic roles helps him sell a sad and serious movie where his main costar is a talking spider alien.
Beyond the great performances, Spaceman is also worth watching because of its (ironically enough) very grounded themes. Franchises like Star Trek have conditioned us to lionize those who wish to leave Earth and explore the stars, but the adventures of Captain Kirk and Captain Picard rarely touch on how all this trekkin’ through the stars impacts their family members back home. Sandler’s character is very compelling as someone who shares this common dream of space exploration but must deal with how the pursuit of that dream has affected the one he loves the most.
Ultimately, Spaceman is one of the more cerebral films, but it’s definitely worth taking this strange journey through the cosmos. Will you love the movie as much as I did, or will you want to chuck Sandler’s out-of-this-world film into the sun? You won’t know until you watch, and with any luck, your opinions won’t be influenced by any telepathic spider-aliens you’ve got hiding under the couch.Â