Rex, a Florida party girl, turns out to be the only hope for the NASA space program after a fluke puts her in training with other candidates who may have better resumés, but don’t have her smarts, heart, and moxie.
REVIEW:
The pitch for Space Cadet must have mentioned that it was Legally Blonde in space.
Rex Simpson (Emma Roberts) is a rural Florida bartender (with all the patrons with swamp accents and gator wrestling backgrounds it implies) who has dreams of being an astronaut . Life, death, lack of college degree and other things just got in the way. Now, in her late twenties she decides to give it a try but is dissuaded by the education, flight and science experience the job requires. The engineering smarts and the inquisitive mind for science she does have. The rest of the resume is made up by her BFF, Nadine (Poppy Liu, the movie’s hidden star). The rest just follows the template.
Roberts does have the Reese Witherspoon profile. She is good at dong caricature characters, as her horror movie past attests. The silly party girl she nails easily. The smarts evolves in confrontation, adversity and challenge. She gives Rex depth without overdosing the saccharine side.
Outside of Poppy Liu who has a blast doing all sort of voice impersonations, and is generally endearing in her zaniness, the others are more type than characters. Occassionally they’ll do something slightly surprising and funny, but this is mostly acting by the numbers- a cast mimicking comedy over performing it.
Roberts does her best, but Rex has very little weaknesses and never faces serious adversity. She likes to party, wholesomely for the most part, but remains her type: smart, a generous friend, a kind daughter, and a person who easily overcomes all the challenges that come her way. Space Cadet short shifts her character- and yet Roberts saves it in the end.
CREDITS:
Directed by
Starring
Distributed by
Release date
- July 4, 2024
Running time
110 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
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