In late February 2024, Netflix released Spaceman. A sci-fi drama starring Adam Sandler as a Czech astronaut. I don’t know about this one….

Jakub Procházka(Sandler) is on a solo space mission to investigate a mysterious cloud near Jupiter. Just before reaching his destination, he finds a spider-like alien aboard his ship. The creature, speaking to Jakub telepathically, wants to know more about humans. And Jakub, suffering from loneliness and depression, befriends the spider, naming him Hanuš (Paul Dano). Hanuš learns about Jakub’s life and how he hasn’t been the best of husbands to his wife, Lenka (Carey Mulligan). Can Hanuš help Jakub become a better man?

Sadly, I kept expecting more from this movie. First, it’s very difficult to accept that Adam Sandler is supposed to be Czech. His accent comes and goes, seemingly dependent on whether or not he remembers he’s supposed to have one. Second, nothing really happens. Since Jakub is in space and Lenka is on Earth, everything we see between the two of them are just Jakub’s memories as seen by Hanuš. (Yes, the spider can also read minds.) Communication has been cut off between Jakub and Lenka because of their failing relationship. So I kept waiting for some big twist - the spider isn’t real and Jakub is hallucinating on the ship, Jakub isn’t really on the ship at all, the spider is just pretending to be a cool guy so he can eat Jakub. But no, nothing happens. This movie is literally Jakub going to couples therapy without his wife and a spider is his therapist.

I’m saying skip this one. I know Sandler has done dramatic roles before and I was really hoping that this would be a really good dramatic role for him. But this was the wrong role for him with a bad plot. I really do wish it was better.

Rating: D