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What’s the Story?

Reviewed by Cynthia Fuchs

A former astronaut who had to leave the space program to tend to family issues, Charlie Farmer (Billy Bob Thornton) still wants to be an astronaut in the worst way. By day, he works on his ranch (sometimes wearing his space suit); at night, he builds a rocket in the barn, with the goal of orbiting his capsule one time around the earth. The enormity of the project is daunting. Charlie leaves daily life details to his infinitely patient wife Audie (Virginia Madsen). Even when she discovers that Charlie has nearly bankrupted the family ("You're supposed to keep us safe"), Audie doesn't quite put a stop to the adventure. A visit from her own ailing father (Bruce Dern) makes her think hard about men's limits and aspirations, and how best to help them understand both.

Is It Any Good?

3

Part frontier myth, part family saga, and part redemption story, THE ASTRONAUT FARMER is about dreaming, sacrifice, and obsession. Charlie remains fixated despite money troubles, legal threats, and taunts. His quirky outlook recalls the Polish brothers' earlier films (Northfork, Twin Falls Idaho), but the one in this movie is more literal. It's also too dependent on Audie as a "device." Like many women in the movies, she bears and expresses the emotional costs of Charlie's masculine dreaming.

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