Space Cadet: Review
By Sioph W. Leal
There’s a comfort in the 2000s type of comedies that you can watch without thinking that are fun and have the right amount of cheesy and predictable elements, like Legally Blonde, but have substance to them and make for an enjoyable time. Space Cadet is not one of them.
From the get-go Rex Simpson (Emma Roberts) talks about how much she wanted to be an astronaut growing up, but her life didn’t go as planned, and instead of living her dream, she’s a party girl, bartender, and alligator wrestler. The twist? She has an engineering brain but rarely uses it. After a high school reunion where she realises her lost potential, Rex is determined to get her life on track and live her dream by applying to NASA’s ultra-competitive astronaut training programme, but she lacks the skills or education. An overly supportive best friend in Nadine (Poppy Liu) takes some creative license with Rex’s application, and she is accepted into the programmeme but must rely on her quick wit to stay in the programmeme and accomplish her dream of going to Mars or space in her mother’s memory.
In the beginning, we see some of Rex’s engineer mind and how she uses it to make life easier for her friend's tanning needs and for the environment. There’s an expectation that this will pay off in some way to the resolution of the film, but it doesn't, and it's as if the writing purposefully forgets they’ve given Rex an engineer way of thinking in factor of a strangely paced film with things so daft it takes away from the comedy.
Rex isn’t likeable and is very forgettable. There are times when the writing is doing its best to make the audience feel sorry for her with her mother passing, but it has no effect and comes off as a simplistic way to make the audience root for Rex. Unfortunately, she is passive and never bothers to try, so it calls into question how much her dream really means to her. This isn’t a case of Rex being unconventionally smart and using it to her advantage; she is simply lazy. There are times when we see her mind working in ways to combine her party life with her astronaut dreams, but, unlike characters like Elle Woods, we never see her wanting to apply herself. It’s obvious Rex has the foundations of a good character, with Roberts doing her best to be charming, but the lazy and lacking energy of the character and situations stop any investment in the character or seeing her achieve her dream.
Sometimes a supporting cast can make up for the determinants of the writing, but this is not the case. The other cadets lack anything interesting, and there isn’t much of a villain for Rex to contend with other than her own lack of ambition. Instead, they are stereotypes or overdone gimmicks that offer nothing to the story or entertainment. On top of that, Space Cadet introduces two love interests but forgets about one halfway through, only to cram them into the narrative again. Toddrick Spencer (Sebastián Yatra) has his own space travel company and talks about how much of an inspiration Rex was, yet we never see it. There’s a spark there that’s extinguished as soon as she applies for the programme and meets NASA deputy director Logan O'Leary (Tom Hopper) in what is an excruciatingly forced romantic subplot that gets in the way of any comedy and fast becomes a tired plot with an overdone gag throughout.
Bad movies can be a great watch if they're entertaining, but Space Cadet is dull with irritating characters that offer no comedic value or anything enjoyable to keep you focused or laughing. It is trying hard to be a movie reminiscent of typical 2000s movie tropes but lacks any charm or coherent plot to keep you going.
Space Cadet is available to stream on July 4th on Amazon Prime.