At some point in an unspecified future, Czech cosmonaut Jakub Procházka (Adam Sandler) floats through space in a capsule.  He’s on a mission to investigate Chopra, a cloud of dust and debris that has been spotted near Jupiter.  On Earth, he’s a hero.  People love to watch interviews with him from space, though few realize that the majority of his interviews were actually pre-recorded before he left the planet.  Corporations are sponsoring his trip and Jakub is under order to use their marketing slogans as much as possible whenever he communicates with the people back home.  Jakob is in a race to reach the cloud before a competing mission from South Korea.  One can only guess what’s happened back on Earth to create a situation where the Czech Republic and South Korea are the two countries with a working space program.

Jakub is someone who grew up yearning to leave the planet and escape from the pain of being the son of a “party informer.”  Now that he’s in space, he obsesses on how much he misses his wife, Lenka (Carey Mulligan).  He and Lenka used to talk regularly through “CzechConnect” but it’s been a while since she’s answered any of his calls.  Lenka was not happy when Jakub accepted the mission to Chopra, accusing him of abandoning her when she needed him most.  Considering that she is pregnant (and that a previous pregnancy ended in a miscarriage), she’s absolutely right.  What Jakub doesn’t know is that Lenka has decided to leave him.  As her mother (Lena Olin) puts it, Jakub will always find an excuse not to return home and deal with their relationship.  After he inspects Chopra, who is to say that Jakub won’t want to continue to see what is waiting beyond Jupiter?  Lenka’s final message to him is being suppressed by the Czech government (represented here by Isabella Rossellini).

What is it that drives Jakub to separate himself from the rest of the world?  Jakub is himself not totally sure.  But when a giant space spider (voiced by Paul Dano) shows up in the capsule and explains that it wants to understand the human mind, Jakub starts to learn.  The spider, who Jakub names Hanus, becomes Jakub’s companion and his confessor.

I’ve often said that there are two Adam Sandlers.  There’s the Adam Sandler who makes goofy comedies with his friends and who mostly seems to view making movies as a working vacation.  And then there’s the Adam Sandler who is a sad-eyed character actor who captures regret and spiritual malaise about as well any performer working today.  To me, it’s always been interesting how the same actor who starred in something like Jack and Jill could also be absolutely heart-breaking when cast in something like The Meyerowtiz Stories.  If the only Sandler films that you ever watched or heard about were his dramatic roles, you would probably assume that he is one of America’s most honored actors.  Spaceman finds Adam Sandler in serious actor mode and he does a good job at portraying Jakub’s loneliness and the deep sadness that makes it difficult from him to open up emotionally.  That said, I have to admit that, as I watched this deliberately-paced and rather somber film, there were a few times when I found myself thinking about how they should have made a sequel to Happy Gilmore where Happy became the first pro-golfer in space.

Spaceman is a film that I wanted to like more than I did.  It’s a well-acted film, with Carey Mulligan again getting a chance to show the depth that she can bring to even a somewhat underwritten role.  The Chopra is beautifully rendered.  The Giant Spider becomes a fascinating character as the story plays out.  The film does a good job of capturing the claustrophobia of being stuck in a space capsule.  (Jakub may have escaped Earth but he’s still definitely trapped.)  The problem is that the film’s approach is a bit too literal-minded.  Instead, of engaging with viewers and letting them discover the film’s themes and solve the story’s mysteries for themselves, Spaceman spells everything out in the most obvious ways.  The film, like Jakub, makes the mistake of not trusting the people watching to be able to understand what they’re seeing.  2001: A Space Odyssey was an obvious influence on the film’s final third but, whereas Kubrick took an obvious joy in leaving audiences scratching their heads, Spaceman wraps things up a bit too neatly,

In the end, I think Spaceman will be best-remembered for being the first film in which audiences will not be surprised to see Adam Sandler giving a dramatic performance.  After Punch-Drunk Love, The Meyerowtiz Stories, Uncut Gems, and Hustle, we’ve reached the point where the idea of Adam Sandler being a good actor is no longer shocking.  Who would have ever guessed?