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Canada · 2019
1h 38m
Director Shelagh McLeod
Starring Richard Dreyfuss, Lyriq Bent, Colm Feore, Krista Bridges
Genre Comedy, Drama
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This heartwarming comedy follows Angus Stewart, an aging widower with a lifelong dream of visiting outer space. He gets a once-in-a-lifetime chance to make his dream a reality when he wins a spot on the first ever commercial flight to space.
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Brad Wheeler
I like the way McLeod handles the genre. The easiest thing to do would be for her to write Feore’s Elon Musk-y space-or-bust character as a villain, thus making it impossible not to root for her protagonist (who warns of a potential load-bearing problem with the space-plane’s runway). McLeod resists that urge though.
Los Angeles Times by Gary Goldstein
A sluggish drama about aging and holding onto your dreams.
Astronaut doesn’t have the budget or cinematic ambition to deliver on its premise. Despite the best efforts of Richard Dreyfuss, it reaches for the stars and misses by a mile.
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
The underlying idea is pregnant with promise but writer/director Shelagh McLeod, making her feature debut, is trapped by the time limitations of a film into cutting narrative corners and cheating to achieve an upbeat ending.
Astronaut is a sweet film that could have done with more fire under its belly earlier on.
The Film Stage by Jared Mobarak
A big part in combating the otherwise obvious plotting and overt coincidences beyond their family-friendly messaging is that Dreyfus commits to this performance.
At times, that slowness and steadiness in writer-director Shelagh McLeod’s tale is worth the wait as solid actors – including Dreyfuss and Graham Greene – do their thing. At others, it’s a source of consternation (particularly when events are moving at what should be a swift pace). But the “sad piano” soundtrack trope in the first act is probably the movie’s biggest hurdle. Stay with it, though.
Star Richard Dreyfuss gets his moments and finds a couple more of those signature, pugnacious Richard Dreyfuss lines to nail. And the whole sentimental affair goes down easier than you might expect from that desultory opening act.
The Hollywood Reporter by Stephen Dalton
Despite its title, this mild-mannered feature debut from British TV actor turned writer-director Shelagh McLeod remains determinedly earthbound for most of its duration, more heart-tugging family saga than intergalactic adventure.
In the end, only a fraction of McLeod’s ambitions sticks a landing. But Astronaut stays afloat with sweetness, thanks to a measured performance from Dreyfuss.
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