Title: Space Cadet
Director: Liz W. Garcia
Cast: Emma Roberts, Tom Hopper, Poppy Liu, Gabrielle Union, Kuhoo Verma
Where to watch: Streaming on Amazon Prime
Rating: **
Ah, space exploration in film! The arena of majestic visuals, gripping narratives, and heart-pounding action. From Apollo 13 to Interstellar, these films have reached for the stars. Enter Liz W. Garcia’s Space Cadet, a cinematic misfire that lands somewhere between the Moon and your grandma’s old VHS tapes of Legally Blonde and The Room.
Meet Tiffany “Rex” Simpson (Emma Roberts), our plucky protagonist with all the charm of a high school reunion disaster and the brainpower of a cartoon raccoon. She is a bartender with a knack for inventing useless gadgets. Inspired by her lack of success and high school peers who can't comprehend what a full-ride scholarship is, Rex decides NASA is her next logical step.
The plot is flighty and bubbly. Rex, despite her zero qualifications, lands herself a spot at NASA thanks to her best friend Nadine (Poppy Liu), who, in a moment of brilliance or sheer lunacy, forges credentials for Rex. This is where the film’s logic escapes the Earth's atmosphere entirely. She is accepted for a Space Training Programme as an Astronaut Candidate or AsCan, a nickname that sparks a few jokes. And, suddenly, Rex is navigating the training with all the grace of a drunken flamingo, armed with a plucky attitude and absolutely no grasp of physics.
If you think this film is a quirky, feel-good underdog story, brace yourself. It’s more like a puppy trying to fly a plane. Rex’s giggling, peace signs, and silly outfits make her an unbelievable NASA candidate. The cast is full of stereotypes: an uptight mean girl (Desi Lydic), an over-serious nerd (Josephine Huang), a token gay friend (Hector Kaneko), a special force operative (Grace Jackson), a former military captain (Andrew Call), and the hunky mentor, Logan (Tom Hopper), whose main qualifications are a British accent and glasses.
Despite trying hard to mimic Legally Blonde, this film fails to capture the charm and wit that endeared its heroine to audiences. Instead, Rex’s transformation from bartender to astronaut is a bewildering sequence where effort and merit are overshadowed by sheer luck and flashy attire. Her fellow trainees and supervisors are equally uninspiring.
What’s truly mind-boggling is how the narrative manages to undermine its girl power message. Rex’s supposed brilliance is only highlighted by surrounding her with women portrayed as idiots or humourless shrews. Even her few moments of so-called genius are underwhelming and do little to redeem her character. Emma Roberts’ performance is a one-note portrayal of perkiness that quickly wears thin, leaving the audience rooting for the film to end rather than for her to succeed.
Overall, the film aims to be a peculiar comedy about following your dreams but instead sends a muddled message about entitlement and half-baked efforts.
So, should you watch this film? Only if you’re in the mood for a cosmic disaster wrapped in pastel fluff. Otherwise, it’s best to leave this one floating in the vacuum of forgotten films.
