Film

Spaceman

Name: Spaceman
Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure, Drama
Released: 2024
Cast: Adam Sandler, Paul Dano, Carey Mulligan, Kunal Nayyar, Isabella Rossellini

Family drama

Spaceman is a melancholic sci-fi drama about an astronaut six months into a solo mission who befriends a talking creature and confronts his crumbling marriage through cosmic distance. It's visually stunning and quietly devastating, anchored by Adam Sandler in a rare dramatic role. For anyone who loved the intimate loneliness of films like Gravity but wants something stranger and more emotionally focused.

TMDb rating

3.3

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy slow, melancholy science fiction that treats a giant space voyage as a backdrop for a quiet study of loneliness, grief and a marriage coming apart, with a spider-like alien who talks like a confessor.

Skip it if you want the cosmic spectacle and momentum of a space adventure, since much of the runtime is one man talking to a creature and to the memory of his wife.

What it asks of you: Around a hundred and eight minutes of patience, with long stretches of stillness and softly spoken dialogue, and a mood that stays wistful rather than thrilling.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Gravity2013

Another film about an astronaut facing isolation and mortality, but Gravity is all visceral terror and survival instinct. A masterclass in suspense and visual storytelling that shares Spaceman's obsession with what space does to the human spirit.

But Relentlessly intense—there's almost no breathing room or dialogue. If you want meditative and character-driven rather than nail-bitingly tense, this will feel exhausting.

Arrival2016

Thoughtful sci-fi about communication with an alien presence, and like Spaceman, it's interested in language, connection, and how the cosmos reshapes what we understand about love and time.

But Deliberately paced and abstract. The reveal lands softly, not with a bang. Some find it too cerebral; others find the emotional payoff manipulative.

The Adam Project2022

Ryan Reynolds in a time-travel film that's surprisingly sincere beneath the quips—it's about fatherhood, regret, and the people we become. The tone walks a line between weightlessness and genuine ache.

But Tries to do too much: action, comedy, sentiment. The tonal shifts don't always land, and it can feel scattered even when the heart is in the right place.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Spaceman

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Midnight Sky2020

Both use the vastness of space as a mirror for intimate family fracture—isolation as metaphor for emotional distance that can't be crossed.

George Clooney directs and stars as a dying astronomer tracking a returning spacecraft to warn of catastrophe. The real story is about the recordings he leaves behind for his daughter—a ghost trying to repair what distance destroyed. Spaceman shares its obsession with connection across unbridgeable space.

But The ending hinges on a twist that feels both inevitable and slightly unearned. Some will find it devastating; others will feel manipulated. The pacing drags in the second act.

Solaris1972

A philosophical masterpiece about a psychologist aboard a space station haunted by manifestations of his own guilt. Like Spaceman, it uses science fiction to excavate human loneliness and the impossibility of truly knowing another person.

But Slow. Meditative. Deliberately paced to the point where you must surrender to its rhythm. Nearly three hours. Tarkovsky doesn't rush, and many viewers find that a barrier.

The Right Stuff1983

An epic about the Mercury Seven astronauts that captures both the mythic wonder and the emotional cost of space exploration. Beautiful cinematography and a real sense of what drives people to leave everything behind.

But Nearly four hours and bounces between multiple timelines and characters. The scope can feel unfocused, and some of the macho posturing hasn't aged well.

Interstellar2014

Christopher Nolan's ambitious epic about a father leaving his family to save humanity. The parent-child relationship is the emotional core, and the visuals of space are breathtaking. If you want cosmic scale with genuine heart.

But Nearly three hours with long stretches of exposition. The plot becomes increasingly baroque, and some of the science-fiction concepts stretch belief. It can feel self-important.

The Fountain2006

Darren Aronofsky's haunting meditation on love, loss, and time across three centuries. Visually stunning and deeply moving, it's about connection that transcends mortality. For viewers who want their sci-fi poetic and devastating.

But Deliberately cryptic and open-ended. It demands interpretation and won't give you easy answers. Some find it pretentious; others find it too vague to engage with emotionally.

The Martian2015

A grounded, optimistic survival story about an astronaut stranded on Mars who talks himself through each day with wit and determination. It's lighter than Spaceman but shares the isolation and the love of problem-solving under impossible odds.

But Briskly paced and problem-focused. It's less interested in emotional introspection than Spaceman, so if you want existential weight, this is more feel-good than profound.

All Is Lost2013

Robert Redford alone on a damaged sailboat in the Indian Ocean, fighting the sea with minimal dialogue. It's pure isolation and persistence—a meditation on human resilience that feels as intimate and lonely as drifting through space.

But Almost no plot or character backstory. It's repetitive by design, and the lack of narrative momentum frustrates many viewers who need story structure to stay engaged.

The Tragedy of Macbeth2021

Both films trust visual poetry and silence to carry emotional weight. Both let their protagonists spiral through guilt and disconnection in contained spaces. Both are deeply lonely.

Joel Coen's black-and-white adaptation of Shakespeare plays like a ghost story: stark, beautiful, hypnotic. Adam Sandler isn't in it, but it shares Spaceman's willingness to stage human anguish in visually expressionist ways. Art-house but accessible.

But Stark and austere. The language is Shakespearean, and the visual style is deliberately theatrical rather than naturalistic. If you want plot momentum or conventional drama, this is too austere.

Okja2017

Both films foreground a non-traditional companionship—creature to human—as the emotional core. Both use that relationship to explore isolation and what we owe to those we love.

Bong Joon-ho's hybrid of adventure, family drama, and sci-fi satire about a girl trying to save a genetically modified super-pig. Wildly tonal, visually inventive, and surprisingly tender. It's Spaceman's spiritual opposite: chaotic, furious, vital.

But Jumps genres constantly—comedy to action to heartbreak to body horror. The tonal whiplash will feel unfocused if you're not on its wavelength. Also, it's about corporate greed, which some find preachy.