From Jeremy Kibler

Doing for NASA what Legally Blonde did for Harvard Law School, Space Cadet is the dumber, less-charming cousin. Whereas Reese Witherspoon’s underestimated sorority girl Elle Woods was smarter than she looked, Emma Roberts’ underestimated bartender Tiffany “Rex” Simpson only seems like she’s playing stupid. An airy no-brainer is clearly hard to get right because Space Cadet, while spry and sweet-natured, is just not very funny. 

Rex is a fun-loving Florida party girl who has always dreamt of going to space. She even had a full ride to Georgia Tech, but then her mother died of cancer. Now, she’s mixing drinks, partying on the beach, sometimes wrestling alligators for fun, and making little inventions in her backyard. One night after a high school reunion, Rex decides to just go for it and apply to an astronaut training program at the Johnson Space Center. Before sending it, Rex’s wacky, very pregnant best friend Nadine (Poppy Liu) takes a look-see and embellishes Rex’s resumé, complete with a degree from MIT in mechanical engineering and field research in marine biology. 

Before you know it, Rex’s application gets seen by NASA recruiters Logan (Tom Hopper), a British, bespectacled hunk who will have to become Rex’s love interest, and Pam (a caffeinated but underused Gabrielle Union). They like what they see with this unconventional candidate and take a chance on her. Cut to Rex landing in Houston, entering training, and shaking everything up before becoming an aspirational figure for being “zigzaggy and out-of-the-box.” And it’s not to be believed for a second.

Rex really isn’t to blame, nor is Nadine, for this charade, but apparently, it’s a cake walk to forge credentials on an application for the U.S. federal government without a background check and make sure the legitimacy of winning a Pulitzer is overlooked. None of these logic hiccups would matter, of course, if any of the situations were actually funny. Suspending your disbelief to make the implausible premise work is one thing, but it’s annoying when every character (especially those at NASA) is forced to be incompetent. 

Emma Roberts can be a winning presence in romantic comedies, and she’s even better playing acerbic and mean (see Scream 4, either season of Scream Queens, and mainly the Coven season of American Horror Story). Here, as Rex, Roberts might be a little miscast in playing beneath her intelligence, but she’s game anyway. She’s perky and mostly likable, but as a character meant to be unqualified enough to stand out yet not too dumb to still be root-worthy, Rex seems inconsistently written. Is she an earthy, inventive young woman whose full potential came to a halt after a personal loss? Or is she a flighty, overeager free spirit? Well, the film likes having it both ways. 

In the script by writer-director Liz W. Garcia (The Lifeguard), there’s a forced, dumbed-down nature that extends to everyone else. This includes NASA recruiters and the other Astronaut Candidates, referred to as “AsCans,” who are all types and caricatures (the judgmental bitch, the hotshot fighter pilot, the anxious nerd). On the other hand, Poppy Liu (The Afterparty, Hacks) goes very broad as Rex’s ditsy bestie Nadine, but she’s an irresistibly loopy standout.

One feels a little bad for picking on Space Cadet, which is mostly an enthusiastically played sitcom that never gets funnier or more clever beyond its title. It doesn’t have a mean bone in its body, but why couldn’t this lame high-concept comedy have had more of a brain to go with its heart?

Rating: 1.5/5

Space Cadet is now streaming on Prime Video.

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