THE ASTRONAUT FARMER — ** — Billy Bob Thornton, Virginia Madsen, Tim Blake Nelson; rated PG (profanity, violence, vulgarity, brief drugs).
The title character of "The Astronaut Farmer" is Charles Farmer (Billy Bob Thornton), a Texas ranch owner and would-be space traveler who is perhaps out of touch with reality.
Appropriately — or perhaps inappropriately — this drama/fantasy itself is a little out of touch with reality.
When it's more grounded — in normal, everyday family drama — the film works fine. But it gets weirder as it goes along. In fact, it gets so far out and goes so far off track that recovery is impossible.
Farmer is a former NASA candidate who was forced out of the space program by a tragedy.
He's spent the past few years building a rocket in his barn. He's nearly bankrupted his family, but he's almost ready to launch. ("Mission control" is supposed to be run out of a nearby trailer, with his son acting as the flight coordinator.)
When word leaks about his plans, FAA officials and the news media descend on the tiny Texas community. His family stands by him, especially his wife, Audie (Virginia Madsen).
It is nice to see Thornton playing a slightly different character than the same foul-mouthed, acid-spewing jerk he's repeated umpteen times since 2003's "Bad Santa." And his on-screen relationship with Madsen's Audie is appealing.
Unfortunately, co-screenwriter/director Michael Polish ("Northfork") isn't content to let those aspects of the film bloom. Instead, a full hour is devoted to the space mission story line. It isn't remotely believable, and the conclusion is more laughable than satisfying.
Polish also wastes the talents of people like Bruce Dern, J.K. Simmons and Tim Blake Nelson, none of whom are given nearly enough to do. (And oddly, Polish's brother, Mark — who co-wrote the screenplay — gets to clown around with "Napoleon Dynamite's" Jon Gries. They have supporting roles as FBI agents in a particularly unfunny subplot.)
"The Astronaut Farmer" is rated PG for scattered profanity, crude slang and humor, vehicular violence and explosive mayhem (as well as brief domestic violence), and brief drug content (anesthetics). Running time: 105 minutes.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com