Young teen girls who believe in sticky-sweet miracles may have an easy time sitting through the poorly-written and relentlessly mawkish THE SPACE BETWEEN US, but for many it will be hard to overlook the combination of cloying sentimentality and gaping plot holes. In 2018 astronaut Sarah Elliot (Janet Montgomery) departs on a mission to Mars overseen by wealthy scientist Nathaniel Shepherd (Gary Oldman) before she realizes she is pregnant (oops!). Shortly after landing on the Red Planet, she dies from complications related to childbirth. Her son Gardner (Asa Butterfield) thus grows up on Mars, reaching the age of 16 only having known only a handful of people in this space colony including Kendra (Carla Gugino), a scientist who looks after him and Centaur, a robot. Using the technology available, Gardner has connected via the internet with a sassy high school girl back on Earth named Tulsa (Britt Robertson) who lives with her boozer crop-duster foster dad (we know he’s a drunk because he’s introduced passed out with empty beer cans all over his lap). Though they email each other for some time, Tulsa has no idea Gardner isn’t, as he claims to be, a wealthy New York kid isolated due to health issues. Gardner falls for Tulsa through cyberspace, and after a plot device sends him to Earth, he heads to Colorado to find her. Armed with on old photo, the couple then hunt down Gardner’s mysterious father whom he has never met. Complicating all of this is Earth’s pesky environment, which applies atmospheric pressures that Gardner’s Mars-born body cannot withstand.
The many problems with this wannabe weepie from director Peter Chelsom (THE HANNAH MONTANA MOVIE) extend far beyond its paint-by-numbers plot. Though it has an ‘adapted from the from the best-selling young adult novel’ vibe to it, it’s actually an original screenplay – a really lousy one crammed with groaners like “I can’t choose where I was born, but I can choose where I die” and “Hurry, there’s no time!”, and “Stay with me, Gardner!” and “Earth doesn’t want me”. The story may have worked better on paper, allowing for more introspection and emotional exploration, but the characters in THE SPACE BETWEEN US are poorly-developed. I didn’t see Gardner and Tulsa bonding or making much of a connection during their brief facetime chats. When they finally meet, her first instinct is to slap him in the face, as she’s clearly more annoyed than happy. But minutes later they’re suddenly declaring their love for each other while on the run, government agents and choppers in pursuit (good thing she knows how to fly that crop duster!). Why is she risking her life for this kid she barely knows? Who is Gardner’s real father and why is that so important? Who’s that creepy hippy chick tossing flower petals? Instead of focusing on these questions, THE SPACE BETWEEN US is satisfied to prance around whimsically in Precioustown for two solid hours, delivering sweet vignettes devoid of purpose. The film is padded with scenes of Tulsa riding on her motorcycle while lame new pop songs wail loudly on the soundtrack, or Gardner and Tulsa stealing vintage cars and falling in love while lame new pop songs wail loudly on the soundtrack.
Even allowing for a certain level of unreality in a movie about interplanetary romance, THE SPACE BETWEEN US smells of contrivance and ineptness. That crop duster crashes into a barn which explodes in a massive fireball as if it was being used to store napalm, yet minutes later authorities are combing through the wreckage and it barely looks singed. What keeps THE SPACE BETWEEN US from being completely insufferable is the earnest charm in Asa Butterfield and Britt Robertson’s performances. Screen chemistry is tough and when you’ve got young actors who haven’t really proven themselves in film outside of things like ENDER’S GAME and TOMORROWLAND, you can be forgiven for expecting the worst when they’re supposed to be communicating a once-in-a-lifetime love. But their time together is sort of sweet. Miscast Gary Oldman, a long-term devotee of the art of ham, overacts like a champ while Carla Gugino is a bit better. Even I am occasionally up for a good mushy movie, but THE SPACE BETWEEN US is softer in the head than the heart.
1 1/2 of 5 Stars
