Alright, now this sounds pretty hilarious… the only thing is, I can’t figure out if it’s actually supposed to be funny or not. The Astronaut Farmer (which bears disappointingly little resemblance to Clint Eastwood’s 2000 movie Space Cowboys) stars Billy Bob Thornton as a NASA employee who is forced to leave his job to save his family farm. But he can’t leave behind the dream of space travel, so he decides to build a rocket in his barn… and apparently succeeds. Clearly the movie’s concept is ridiculous, and I guess it’s being billed at least partly as a comedy, but after watching the trailer it didn’t seem all that funny. The trailer makes it feel like a Ron Howard or Steven Spielberg movie, an epic story about an underdog overcoming adversity to achieve his goal. Seriously, all that’s missing is Tom Hanks! In reality it’s directed by relative newcomer Michael Polish, and co-stars Virginia Madsen and Bruce Dern (which further clouds the filmmaker’s intentions seeing as both have walked the line between comedy and drama throughout their careers). I just think they’re approaching this all wrong. They should have gone with a flat out comedy, because it ain’t the 80’s anymore and silly sentimental stuff like this is a tough sell nowadays. The marketing is definitely going to confuse audiences, and I can’t see it doing all that well. Agree or disagree?

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