The American Astronaut Review
by Steve Rhodes (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)November 5th, 2001
THE AMERICAN ASTRONAUT
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2001 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2
Camp is tricky. The very real problem in making a movie that's so bad that it's good is that you can easily overachieve and create a genuine stinker by mistake. THE AMERICAN ASTRONAUT, by writer/director Cory McAbee, looks like a fifth generation copy of a videotape of a bad sci-fi film from the 50s taped from late night television. The old Buck Rogers series would be a masterpiece in comparison.
Starting off suitably cheesy, the narrator sets the scene with a map of the solar system. He reminds us of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Our story is set at the Ceres Crossroads bar on that big rock in the sky known as Ceres.
The movie is an amalgamation of genres, being a sci-fi, rock 'n roll, western musical. A typical scene occurs in the restroom of the bar, which looks like a dirty, decrepit bathroom at a cheap gas station. Two guys in western attire come in and start doing a bad song and dance routine. They peer over a stall door to take a Polaroid of a guy on the toilet. The result is an episode that's just weird and not the least bit funny.
No special effects are too cheap for THE AMERICAN ASTRONAUT, but none of them reach an Ed Wood level of schlocky fun.
The plot involves the men of Jupiter and the women of Venus as well as a cat named Oscar who is exchanged for some stolen fruit. One of the characters is called the "Boy Who Actually Saw A Woman's Breasts."
The only good part of the movie stems from its lack of quality. The black-and-white cinematography is so ugly and underlit that many scenes are nearly impossible to decipher. This is a good thing.
THE AMERICAN ASTRONAUT runs 1:31. It is not rated but might be PG-13 for mature themes and would be acceptable for kids around 9 and up, not that they would like it.
The film is playing in limited release now in the United States. In the Silicon Valley, it is showing at the Camera Cinemas.
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