Spaceman Review: Adam Sandler Befriends a Psychic Spider in This Downbeat Sci-Fi Drama

A giant telepathic spider acts as an unlikely therapist in Spaceman, Adam Sandler's latest foray into serious drama. Adapted from the 2017 novel Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfař, this premise looks enticingly peculiar in the film's trailer but is less compelling in the final product. Lingering on the protagonist's woes about his failing marriage, Spaceman is a rather pedestrian indie drama wrapped in the trappings of science fiction.

Directed by Johan Renck (HBO's Chernobyl), Spaceman stars Sandler as a Czech astronaut, Jakub, tasked with a lonely mission to the edge of the solar system. For the past four years, the skies have been haunted by a luminous purple cloud of space dust. Jakub's job is to travel to the cloud and collect samples, while the people of Earth follow his progress with bated breath.

Spaceman's moody post-Soviet aesthetic is its greatest asset, with Jakub going about his days in a cluttered, retro-futuristic space capsule. Back on Earth, the leader of the Czech space program (Isabella Rossellini) gives press conferences in front of a 1970s-looking film projector, propagandizing Jakub's role as a national hero.

In reality, Jakub is a quiet, slightly depressive soul, doing an unglamorous job on a mission sponsored by embarrassing products like "Antiquease," an anti-nausea drug he promotes during ad breaks in his video broadcasts. I haven't read the original novel, but it sounds like it included a lot more satirical material like this — along with a stronger foundation in Czech politics and history, which the film condenses into some brief interludes about Jakub's father and his political ties.

The stakes of Jakub's journey are somewhat unclear (the dust cloud doesn't seem to be a threat), and he's mostly concerned about minor inconveniences like his ship's malfunctioning toilet, whose grinding noises keep him awake. Then his wife, Lenka (Carey Mulligan), stops taking his calls, and things take a turn for the worse.

5.2

Spaceman

at Netflix

Like

• The appealingly textural retro aesthetic
• Paul Dano's psychic space spider is undeniably cool

Dislike

• It's hard to get invested in the protagonist's boring marriage woes
• The combination of personal drama and atmospheric sci-fi doesn't really go anywhere

After several sleepless nights, a tetchy Jakub discovers that he's no longer alone on the ship. A giant spider has appeared out of nowhere — a brief jumpscare in an otherwise low-energy film — although the technicians back on Earth can't see it through their cameras. The most plausible explanation is that Jakub is hallucinating, but this isn't that kind of movie. Instead, we quickly accept the spider's arrival at face value, as it reveals itself to be an intelligent alien lifeform. Expressing polite confusion at Jakub's terror, this curious visitor just wants to chat. 

Voiced in whispery tones by a characteristically eccentric Paul Dano, the spider (whom Jakub names Hanuš) becomes a constant presence in Jakub's life. Equipped with telepathic powers, Hanuš is fascinated by Jakub's human mind and neuroses.

These days Jakub's thoughts often linger on Lenka. Back on Earth, we know she has already decided to leave him. He's a figuratively and literally distant husband, already screwing up their marriage before he left on his year-long mission. Fixating on memories of their relationship, Jakub pines for Lenka and tries to figure out what went wrong, with Hanuš providing a gently confused style of psychotherapy. Hanuš experiences emotions very differently from humankind, witnessing Jacub's thoughts with a combination of academic detachment and mild alarm.

Between Dano, Rosselini, Mulligan, and a downbeat Sandler, Spaceman's cast are all punching above their weight here. Mulligan in particular can play this kind of troubled wife character in her sleep, and works hard to sell her relatively limited screen time. But despite some amusing moments between Jakub and Hanuš, the basic underpinnings of Jakub's relationship problems just aren't very interesting.

There are zillions of films where conflicted men prioritize their careers or missions over their misunderstood wives, and Spaceman doesn't offer much in the way of further psychological depth. Yes, Jakub is a neglectful husband who focuses on romantic nostalgia instead of understanding his wife as she is now. Yes, Lenka is understandably unhappy about Jakub abandoning her alone on Earth. However none of this unfolds in a memorable fashion, with Jakub viewing generic flashbacks of their courtship and exchanging shallow emotional commentary with Hanuš.

While Spaceman's stylish introduction suggests a cerebral, Solaris-like sci-fi drama, the film's various elements never really come together. Charming though he may be, Paul Dano's Hanuš feels more like a narrative tool than a well-rounded character. And Jakub's marriage woes aren't exciting enough to anchor an entire movie, mostly depicted through overly literal discussions about his failings as partner.

Lone space missions are a fruitful genre for psychological conflict, and as a sci-fi fan I have plenty of patience for allegorical stories about psychic aliens and mysterious dust clouds. But Spaceman's strong points — the grimy retro design, Max Richter's score, the moments of quirky humor — weren't enough to hold my interest as Jakub's journey drifted toward its inconclusively dreamlike final act.

Premieres: Friday, March 1 on Netflix
Who's in it: Adam Sandler, Paul Dano, Carey Mulligan, Kunal Nayyar, Isabella Rossellini
Who's behind it: Johan Renck (director), Colby Day (screenwriter)
For fans of: Low-key science fiction; Paul Dano; Amazon's Tales from the Loop