Simply put, Spaceman is a bad adaptation of a good book. For those who crave more than a sentence long explanation, the reasons are listed below.
I read the book nearly six years ago now, upon realizing I’ve not read much Czech fiction. The book was excellent. Moving, resonant, clever, it homed in precisely on the zeitgeist of 1989 Czechoslovakia as a country waking up from a long, strange dream and presented a protagonist, Jacub, not only weighed down by the dream but also but nearly unbearable loneliness. He goes to space reluctantly to redeem his family name, racing against the clock to beat out a different communist-regime spaceship on the same mission. Stripping the novel of all its sociopolitical context, the movie adaptation focuses instead on loneliness and isolation that Jacob struggles with in space instead, making it nicely dumbed down and easily digestible for the general population. And then, largely because the general population is dumbed down and because it is apparently more valuable to hang a movie on a recognizable celebrity than a genuinely suitable actor, they cast Adam Sandler as Jacub. Now, this isn’t a slight against Adam Sandler, who despite specializing in dumbed-down comedies, is actually s surprisingly good dramatic actor. This is to say that he is very, VERY wrong for Jacub. Two decades older than his on-screen wife and LOOKING it, while also not looking even remotely Czech or astronaut-material, Sandler is distractingly out of place here. It almost makes me wonder if he was hired based on the fact that his character spends about 90% of his time on-screen in baggy shirts and basketball shorts, which is notoriously schlubby Sandler's go-to uniform. It’s rather like casting 56-year-old Nicole Kidman as a mother of a missing 3-year-old in the recently released Expats. Yes, she is a star a production can hang upon, but she is still a very wrong star for that production. Here, it is even more inexplicable, because the movie actually features an excellent choice for Jacub—a very talented Paul Dano, who has the right look, age, dramatic pedigree, and would have knocked this role out of the park, except that the powers that be thought to use his as voice actor only. And so we’re stuck watching Sandler pine for the always terrific Carey Mulligan, a romance about as believable as someone sincerely claiming to try to do a faithful, credible page-to-screen adaptation here. What a shame, what a waste of potential. What a tragic reminder that while there is no business like showbusiness, showbusiness is first and foremost, a BUSINESS. Apparently, someone wanted to make an Adam Sandler movie more than they wanted to make a great movie. As is, it’s far from great. Not even particularly good, really, despite the brilliant ensemble cast. Slow, tonally uneven, the production can’t seem to agree on the mood, message, or even an accent. It’s pretty but soporific at best and disappointing all around. Do yourself a favor and read the book instead.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
December 2023
Categories |