Spaceman Review: Adam Sandler Stars in Johan Renck’s Tender Portrait of Loneliness

While Howard Ratner still catered to the star's affinity for the energetic, Sandler as Jakub Prochazka in Spaceman offers audiences another slice of his serious side.

Jakub has left his pregnant wife, Lenka (Carey Mulligan), on Earth. In recent weeks, Lenka has been sending messages to Jakub via their communication machine, informing him that she no longer wishes to be with him. These messages are intercepted by Commissioner Tuma (Isabella Rossellini), who has witnessed Jakub's deterioration over time and does not wish for him to spiral in pursuit of the mission.

Renck tenderly explores seclusion through Jakub's monotonous routine, which can only exist when there is no form of distraction to indulge in.

The lack of life and zeal in Jakub's existence is draining. We glimpse his prior vitality through flashbacks to old advertisements from his early days in space and snippets of Jakub's memories of meeting and falling in love with Lenka.

While the love story doesn't hit with the romanticism it wishes to, it provides an audience with enough context to connect with Jakub.

When his habitual way of living is interrupted by a giant spider, Hanus, who has found his way on board, we witness Jakub reconnect with his thoughts and grow hungry for the life he once thought he needed more from.

Hearing the words "Adam Sandler in space with a giant spider" sets an expectation, but the film Renck delivers is wildly better than the anticipated cheap thrill.

While Spaceman bears no excitement, no monumental action and has little more to hold onto than the swirling storm of regret, it resonates in a profound way that creeps up on you the same way Hanus creeps up on Jakub.

Spaceman challenges us and asks us to sit with the deeply uncomfortable question: what do we place value on above all else?

For Jakub, it was this imagined reality of how it feels to touch the edge of unchartered territory. His longing to feel something beyond what Earth could offer was what ended the thing that gave him meaning and purpose.

We are all constantly seeking more. We move from shiny object to shiny object to distract us from the daily thoughts that threaten to crush us.

In a generation expected to do so much more with a whole lot less, Spaceman gently nudges us in the direction of holding onto the tangible and wills us to stop yearning for life to begin when days are already ticking by.

Paul Dano, who voices Hanus, offers warmth to an otherwise cold tale. He is a gentle manifestation of Jakub's interior life. Seeing Jakub learn to be softer, less guarded, and more gracious with Hanus as time goes by is one of the more compelling stories of learning to be at peace with our faults put to screen in recent years.

More often than not, a movie is willing its audience to be more than before, better than they are at present, so it's welcome that, for once, a movie invites its audience to be okay with who they are now.

You will likely get more from Spaceman seeing it in a theater, so it's a shame that it'll live on Netflix, where at-home distractions threaten to pull you away from Renck's empathetic message.

If you should find a moment when you are home alone and can resist the scrolling temptation, sit quietly with Jakub and Hanus and allow yourself to feel better knowing that you are not alone in your own personal mission.