Review of The Astronaut Farmer

I'm all for living out your dreams but you really do have to take this movie with sufficient grains of salt. That's not meant to be a criticism, because there's a really heartwarming family dynamic at the center of the story and you want to see Charlie Farmer (Billy Bob Thornton) make good on his plan to orbit the Earth in a home made rocket. But every ounce of your being tells you it's not possible, and even if it was, there are enough regulations, laws and government interference to make the effort impossible. I think I got the biggest kick out of Farmer's two young daughters in the story, real life cousins of the Polish Brothers who wrote the story. They had just the greatest charisma on screen in support of their father, while Virginia Madsen's role as Farmer's wife was one of (almost) unconditional support. There was that blow up about losing the farm and who could blame her, which is why it seemed all too convenient that Grandpa Hal's (Bruce Dern) inheritance simply wiped out all the debt the Farmer's incurred. But all in all, it is a feel good story with a worthwhile message about pursuing one's dreams, as long as those dreams have the slightest possibility of happening.