The Astronaut Farmer

Some are comparing this to Field of Dreams, but The Astronaut Farmer differs in one distinct way from the 1989 multiple-Oscar-nominated film: It’s bad. And that is an understatement. Incoherent editing, jolting pacing and sidesplitting (in a bad way) performances build around outrageously cheesy dialogue to make this one of the worst films to hit the screen, big or small. In a throwaway performance, Billy Bob Thornton plays a cattle farmer with a rocket in his barn, perhaps as compensation for losing his manliness when he was discharged from the military or extricated from NASA. He adamantly tells his sugary-sweet family and skeptical townsfolk about his rocket-man dreams. Director Michael Polish co-wrote this with brother Mark and tried for a follow-your-dreams message, but they ended up with an excessively sentimental string of scenes pureed in an uncovered blender.