The Astronaut Farmer

Is the American right to dream under such attack that it requires such twee and repetitive defense from the fraternal writer-director team of Mark and Michael Polish (Northfork), a.k.a. the anti-Coens? Are we not, in fact, afflicted by a veritable plague of unfettered dreamers, doggedly pursuing their chimeric agendas in blithe defiance of reality?

Whatever. Thornton plays a Texas farmer—named Farmer—who never got over having to drop out of astronaut school in his youth and is now building his own rocket ship entirely on credit. The bank is threatening to foreclose on his ranch, the feds would negate his God-given right to own a ballistic missile, and his loving wife (Madsen, a specialist in the coddling of dreamers) is approaching the end of her saintly patience with a guy who rides the range in an Apollo-surplus silver flight suit. Luckily he’s understood and sustained by his wise, mechanically adept father-in-law (Dern, in weakened, nonslimeball mode), worshipful son (Thieriot) and adoring daughter (Logan Polish). But then even Mom gets back with the program after Farmer’s first rocket explodes all over the countryside. She sensibly encourages him to try again, because heaven forbid her kids should have to see their dad give up on his dream (sniffle). (Opens Fri)—Cliff Doerksen