![]() ![]() Set on a scenic stargazing trip, Meet June, a spunky Chinese-American college student trying to make sense of her complicated relationship with her immigrant mother. This is the love story between her and Miles, a quiet artist who is recovering after a harsh past with mental illness. Summary: Meet June, a spunky Chinese-American college student trying to make sense of her complicated relationship with her immigrant mother.The Space Between Us is now playing nationwide. The Space Between Us isn’t terrible, and the filmmakers probably meant well, but anyone interested in the sci-fi aspects of the movie will probably be disappointed once it turns on the engine of a cheesy teen romance movie that never stops. And yet, it’s hard to completely hate it. But even with that in its favor, the movie tends to fluctuate between being corny, sappy, and outright ridiculous. Like other works by him and screenwriter Allan Loeb ( Collateral Beauty), it’s a film that leans heavily on the sentimentality and its sweeping musical score. ![]() The movie is capably directed by Peter Chelsom ( Serendipity) who takes full advantage of the gorgeous American landscapes. (The movie never really gets into why he disappeared but his return is met with little shock or surprise.) Carla Gugino also does a passable job as Gardner’s caretaker Kendra, but it just doesn’t seem to be a role that challenges her very much. Also arbitrarily, he’s vanished for those 16 years as Gardner was growing up, which isn’t treated as too suspect. Oldman is excellent, as always, although it’s somewhat dodgy when the film cuts forward 16 years, and he looks exactly the same. The romance aspect of the story, rather than being its strength, does feel forced and takes the movie further away from the space travel and life on Mars premise that was so compelling to begin with. Together, they’re not bad, but it’s only after you’ve spent a little time with them that you can you believe that she’d have any sort of romantic interest in him. Robertson’s character is quite bratty and cynical compared to the innocence brought by Butterfield, and she takes some adjusting to, but she also grows on you. As a consequence, fans of a certain YA aesthetic may eventually get into the new movie, but only if they can tolerate the two young actors.īutterfield is somewhat stiff in the role of Gardner, but in this case it actually works in his favor when he’s trying to be awkward while adjusting to Earth and the people he encounters, adding some needed levity. Instead, it switches gears into something more like the romantic teen adventure we might have seen in the ‘80s or ‘90s, but with a few unexpected technological advancements thrown into the margins. Happy to merely re-navigate the concept of a boy and a girl from distant worlds (quite literally in this film) finally having a chance to be together, The Space Between Us is basically a road trip with very few signs of the sci-fi elements introduced in the movie’s intriguing first act. Unfortunately, Gardner’s physiology isn’t accustomed to Earth’s gravity, so it turns into something of a race against time. But wanting to know more about the planet, Gardner runs off to find his internet pen pal, whom he knows as Tulsa (Britt Robertson), and soon the two fledgling lovebirds are escaping on a cross-country journey to discover Gardner’s real father. Eventually, the powers that be are convinced to let him come to Earth, where he’s probed and studied. A further 16 years later, and her son Gardner (Asa Butterfield) is eager to find out who his father really is since Sarah, in a very Disney twist, died during childbirth.
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