RocketMan 1997

He's just taking up space!

5.2 / 10   122 vote(s)
PG
Comedy Family Science Fiction

Fred Z. Randall is geeky and obnoxious spacecraft designer, who gets the chance to make his dream come true and travel to Mars as a member of the first manned flight there.

Release Date 1997-10-10
Runtime 1h 35m
Directors Steven Poster, Stuart Gillard
Producers Roger Birnbaum, Jon Turteltaub, Eric L. Gold
Writers Craig Mazin, Greg Erb, Greg Erb

I, somewhat weirdly, have no negative feelings about 'RocketMan'. That's strange because the film is very bad, there is nothing I even marginally liked - and yet, I have no annoyance towards it. Odd.

I think what helps in that regard is the short run time and the fact that I do believe the actors were trying, they were just lumbered with a poor product. Harland Williams plays the role of Fred as well as anyone could have to be honest, while it's nice to see Jeffrey DeMunn - shoutout Dale, 'The Walking Dead'.

The way the premise is brought to life is the biggest downside to this. It's cringe, predictable and lamely written. The more serious space ending is OK but doesn't fit the rest of the film's silliness at all. There aren't many, if any, laughs; for me at least. I did kinda rate the references to other films, e.g. 'Wizard of Oz' and 'Pinocchio', but that's about it.

A harmless film, one I truly don't even have an ounce of hate for despite how bad it actually is.

r96sk