Space Station 76 - All the things I wished it was and it could have been.

This throwback space comedy has all the makings of a cult phenomenon, the camera work, the set and costumes combined with some glorious hammed up acting from some familiar faces. But I’ll start by saying that I don’t intend for this to be a scathing review, but I know I won’t do such a good job of being objective because this film is full of false promises. It is one of those sad occasions where all the best bits are in the trailer. The script is weak and the whole thing just doesn’t commit to the style it promises.  There are many other films that just surpass it in the space comedy sub-genre of science fiction. This may be a rash thing to say but in my opinion the director Jack Plotnick should probably go back to his day job playing bit-part acting roles. I am a huge fan of all things Sci-Fi and when I saw this trailer I literally squealed with delight. The visual style of the picture appeals to me massively, if anything this was the part they got right. It is wonderfully reminiscent of Buck Rogers’ clean white set or the corridors of the Death Star in Star Wars and with many other nods to the space movies of the 70’s and 80’s. 

The cast as a whole are hit and miss, we open with a typical epic style opening to the movie and we are greeted by Patrick Wilson (Insidious, Morning Glory) as Captain Glenn of said Space Station 76. Wilson was serious yet funny with a character who holds some deep seated issues with his own sexuality and his ability to handle Jessica his new female Co-pilot played by Liv Tyler (Lord of the Rings, Armageddon). Tyler was a little more difficult to digest as Jessica, she was tense, if not a little wooden playing the mild mannered and experienced pilot. Tyler’s whispered voice may have caused a million men and women to fall in love with her as enchanting Arwen in Peter Jackson’s franchise but here she just lacked a sense of humour, she could have pushed the character further maybe to a more theatrical end of the scale with a demure caricature. Jessica’s antagonist Misty is played by Marisa Coughlan, an actress possibly best known for T.V. with recurring roles on both Side order of Life and Boston Legal and few cinematic roles, she once played alongside Katie Holmes in revenge comedy Teaching Mrs Tingle. Misty is more on the nose with a level of humour that matches the style of the picture, the medicated housewife entertaining and yet utterly dislikable in her repression of her husband Ted, played White Collar actor Matt Bomer. Appearances of Jerry O’Connell as his usual consistent self, with appropriately hammy acting took this film only a fraction closer to where it intended to be.

Now maybe I’m a little hung up on the idea that this movie is a comedy and if I was to look at this a straight drama then we can see a number of themes and issues tackled. The sexuality crisis of the Captain, previously he had been in a undefined relationship with his Co-pilot Daniel. Infidelity rears it’s head in several relationships along with infertility in one case. But It is almost unavoidable that Space Station 76 was intended to be funnier, this was a mixed bag film its lack of committal to being funny and/or serious left me feeling more bitter than bittersweet.