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The far future: Outer space has become nothing but a freeway, mostly
used by greasy truckers driving whatever it is from wherever to wherever
else -
truckers like Sam (Cory McAbee), whose present assignment is to bring the
Boy Who Actually Saw a Woman's Breast (Greg Russell Cook) to Venus,
a planet inhabitated by (what else) horny women whose last male companion
has just died. While travelling to Venus though, Sam and the boy actually
strike up a sort-of father-son relationship, so much so that Sam actually
makes the boy his assistant, especially when they hunt down a derelict
called Bodysuit (James Ransone) in an outer space barn, to deliver him to
God-knows-where. Once on Venus, Sam has to notice he has already been
expected not only by the horny Venusian women but also by Professor Hess
(Rocco Sisto), his psychotpathic arch-enemy, who plans to kill the boy.
Having grown too fond of the boy, he has him switch places with Bodysuit,
whom the horny Venusians are happy to accept as their next male companion,
while Hess is this way cheated out of his next kill. Sam and the boy
meanwhile start a new life back on earth ... One simply can't
deny - this is one weird film, a blend of sci-fi elements, B-Western
motives, absurd comedy and musical interludes, taking its aesthetic cues
mainly from serials of the 1930's. However, as weird as this mix
may sound in writing, as bold as the decision to not include any special
effects in a space opera might be (all outer space shots are represented
solely by photographs), as absurd (in a retro sort of way) as some of the sets,
props and costumes might look, and as original as some of the plot
elements taken by themselves and in the context of the plot might be, the
direction of the film is simply not able to cope with all the weirdness of
American Astronaut, in fact the directorial effort of Cory McAbee
is almost disappointingly bland, flat and impersonal, to a point where the
film looks like an effort to turn a plot worthy of Guy Maddin into a
mainstream film, sort of Guy Maddin-light. Talking of Guy Maddin: one could only wonder what he
would have made out of a script like the one of American Astronaut
... a piece of surreal and otherworldly weirdness no doubt, which the film
as it is simply isn't. Quite a pity, actually ... That said, the film is
still good fun in an unusual way, it's just miles from being the
other-worldly masterpiece it would have deserved to be.
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