The FBI, that is. Or at least, they will once you try to buy 10,000lbs of rocket fuel.
I was surprised to find, after watching this well-intentioned, but woefully dappy movie, that it wasn't in fact a TV movie. It pretty much screams out to be released straight to network, but no... it apparently had a theatrical release. Needless to say, that release did not go very well and is probably why we never saw The Astronaut Farmer 2: Shooting for the Moon, or any such similar sequel.
In terms of realism, it isn't very far ahead of that old 1979 TV show, Salvage One, which saw a junkyard owner building a ship out of old cars and going to the moon. Here, the main character builds a rocket... in a wooden barn... not fifty yards from his house.
Of course, realism isn't what this movie is about. It is all about the feels and the notion that you should never give up your dreams.
Now, normally, I'd applaud such sentiment, but when taken to the extremes that the titular character Farmer (played by Billy Bob Thornton) goes to - effectively bankrupting his entire family, I think the notion needs reigning in. Hopes and dreams are fantastic things, but one should never lose sight of one's immediate responsibilities. Farmer doesn't have a dream, so much as an obsession, and those are never healthy.
Of course, despite bringing the family to the point of destruction, help arrives in the timely death of the father-in-law, who leaves enough money to save the farm and rebuild the rocket after an earlier mishap.
Well... when I say mishap, I really mean certain death of the main character, Farmer. See, disheartened that nobody thinks his rocket will work, he makes an impromptu launch that goes horribly wrong. The rocket falls over and spends the next couple of minutes hurtling across the desert-like terrain with Farmer stuck aboard.
This rocket sleigh-ride isn't at all tense. It's actually quite funny, with the rocket hurtling through the throngs of news-crews surrounding the ranch without any fatalities in a Wile-E-Coyote kind of way, complete with a less than impressive CGI rocket and a totally not dead Farmer at the end of it.
Rockets don't generally fall over and not explode immediately. I might have bought it, except that the lower part of the rocket was actually below ground, so the fuselage would have ruptured on the edge of the pit as it tipped and... boom! No more Farmer.
Of course, it all ends well ultimately, with dreams fulfilled, farm saved, family happy and Farmer a celebrity. Like I said... a standard sappy TV movie. It isn't the worst thing you could watch on a rainy day, but there are better uses of your time.
SUMMARY: Ridiculous TV movie that wanted to play in the big leagues and failed. Not awful, but also not good. Confuses following your dreams with obsessive behaviour and has lamentable realism. There are better things to watch.
I was surprised to find, after watching this well-intentioned, but woefully dappy movie, that it wasn't in fact a TV movie. It pretty much screams out to be released straight to network, but no... it apparently had a theatrical release. Needless to say, that release did not go very well and is probably why we never saw The Astronaut Farmer 2: Shooting for the Moon, or any such similar sequel.
In terms of realism, it isn't very far ahead of that old 1979 TV show, Salvage One, which saw a junkyard owner building a ship out of old cars and going to the moon. Here, the main character builds a rocket... in a wooden barn... not fifty yards from his house.
Of course, realism isn't what this movie is about. It is all about the feels and the notion that you should never give up your dreams.
Now, normally, I'd applaud such sentiment, but when taken to the extremes that the titular character Farmer (played by Billy Bob Thornton) goes to - effectively bankrupting his entire family, I think the notion needs reigning in. Hopes and dreams are fantastic things, but one should never lose sight of one's immediate responsibilities. Farmer doesn't have a dream, so much as an obsession, and those are never healthy.
Of course, despite bringing the family to the point of destruction, help arrives in the timely death of the father-in-law, who leaves enough money to save the farm and rebuild the rocket after an earlier mishap.
Well... when I say mishap, I really mean certain death of the main character, Farmer. See, disheartened that nobody thinks his rocket will work, he makes an impromptu launch that goes horribly wrong. The rocket falls over and spends the next couple of minutes hurtling across the desert-like terrain with Farmer stuck aboard.
This rocket sleigh-ride isn't at all tense. It's actually quite funny, with the rocket hurtling through the throngs of news-crews surrounding the ranch without any fatalities in a Wile-E-Coyote kind of way, complete with a less than impressive CGI rocket and a totally not dead Farmer at the end of it.
Rockets don't generally fall over and not explode immediately. I might have bought it, except that the lower part of the rocket was actually below ground, so the fuselage would have ruptured on the edge of the pit as it tipped and... boom! No more Farmer.
Of course, it all ends well ultimately, with dreams fulfilled, farm saved, family happy and Farmer a celebrity. Like I said... a standard sappy TV movie. It isn't the worst thing you could watch on a rainy day, but there are better uses of your time.
SUMMARY: Ridiculous TV movie that wanted to play in the big leagues and failed. Not awful, but also not good. Confuses following your dreams with obsessive behaviour and has lamentable realism. There are better things to watch.