Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Gads, this was the worst movie I've seen in a long time. Farmer is not an endearing person, just a self centered nut. Technically the movie is simply stupid. Somehow on the first launch the rocket gets loaded with 5 tons of kerosene?, liquid oxygen would also be needed and that's never even mentioned. Then the rocket goes horizontal, flying about 5 feet above the ground, capsule detaches and there is no major damage, Farmer escapes with just a broken wrist.And his wife puts up with and finances this idiotic waste of time and money as the farm is about to be foreclosed upon.Stupid, stupid stupid!

What stars life as a seemingly well-researched, intriguing, dare I say plausible Netflix drama quickly turns in to a barely-passable children's film about tacky spaceship shenanigans wrapped around a generic perseverance message. Save yourself 2 hours and pass this one up.

The FBI, that is. Or at least, they will once you try to buy 10,000lbs of rocket fuel.I was surprised to find, after watching this well-intentioned, but woefully dappy movie, that it wasn't in fact a TV movie. It pretty much screams out to be released straight to network, but no... it apparently had a theatrical release. Needless to say, that release did not go very well and is probably why we never saw The Astronaut Farmer 2: Shooting for the Moon, or any such similar sequel.In terms of realism, it isn't very far ahead of that old 1979 TV show, Salvage One, which saw a junkyard owner building a ship out of old cars and going to the moon. Here, the main character builds a rocket... in a wooden barn... not fifty yards from his house.Of course, realism isn't what this movie is about. It is all about the feels and the notion that you should never give up your dreams.Now, normally, I'd applaud such sentiment, but when taken to the extremes that the titular character Farmer (played by Billy Bob Thornton) goes to - effectively bankrupting his entire family, I think the notion needs reigning in. Hopes and dreams are fantastic things, but one should never lose sight of one's immediate responsibilities. Farmer doesn't have a dream, so much as an obsession, and those are never healthy.Of course, despite bringing the family to the point of destruction, help arrives in the timely death of the father-in-law, who leaves enough money to save the farm and rebuild the rocket after an earlier mishap.Well... when I say mishap, I really mean certain death of the main character, Farmer. See, disheartened that nobody thinks his rocket will work, he makes an impromptu launch that goes horribly wrong. The rocket falls over and spends the next couple of minutes hurtling across the desert-like terrain with Farmer stuck aboard.This rocket sleigh-ride isn't at all tense. It's actually quite funny, with the rocket hurtling through the throngs of news-crews surrounding the ranch without any fatalities in a Wile-E-Coyote kind of way, complete with a less than impressive CGI rocket and a totally not dead Farmer at the end of it.Rockets don't generally fall over and not explode immediately. I might have bought it, except that the lower part of the rocket was actually below ground, so the fuselage would have ruptured on the edge of the pit as it tipped and... boom! No more Farmer.Of course, it all ends well ultimately, with dreams fulfilled, farm saved, family happy and Farmer a celebrity. Like I said... a standard sappy TV movie. It isn't the worst thing you could watch on a rainy day, but there are better uses of your time.SUMMARY: Ridiculous TV movie that wanted to play in the big leagues and failed. Not awful, but also not good. Confuses following your dreams with obsessive behaviour and has lamentable realism. There are better things to watch.

I believe the people are getting way too generous to be giving this piece of Ranch Junk a rating of over six! Those of u who have been lucky enough not to watch this till now and are craving for a "Pursue ur Dreams and don't give up hope" sort of cinema, watch October Sky. You'll get more than your money's worth.A movie like this works when you can identify with the aspirations of the lead and sympathies with his limitations and difficulties faced in achieving them. I doubt anyone other than a sadist can do all this with Farmer. I mean, how deranged and cold blooded can a man be? First, he spends all his time and money building a rocket out of junk (SwatKATs anyone?), bringing his family to bankruptcy. Second, he pulls his baby daughters out of school so he can teach them science (and make them bring him food n praise his tin can incidentally). Third, he makes his 15 yr old bald son controller of his mission, a work that's usually done by people double PHd in aeronautics or its like...Fourth, he decides to launch his rocket out of his barn, as if that wont incinerate his the damn barn, his house, ranch, his cattle and his family who watch from a few meters away from a rickety trailer! Hold on, in his first attempt he did it while his wife was snoozing, giving her a wake up call with shattering window glass as he took off! Fourth, he buys a joyride for his kids, when he is going bankrupt..and when his very understanding wife points out they are running out of money to buy even food, he goes hysterical howling about there being enough food by tearing a carton full of canned food. Next, his wife makes a silvery space suit for him as if he was going in a costume party. And yeah, he reenters the atmosphere suddenly being off course and lands almost in his backyard...and all these years the poor NASA had to launch aircraft carriers in 1000 or so square mile radius to find earlier astronauts. And lastly, he refuses an offer by bruce willis to go to space in a NASa shuttle cuz of his weird ego, risking his family no probs! Man, i think they should have named the movie "The Astronaut Joker", so at least it would have justified all this dark comedy.