Lucy in the Sky Movie Review

“Lucy in the Sky” is a well-meaning, yet ultimately unsuccessful attempt at asking DEEP QUESTIONS about Earthlings ability to handle outer space. The idea is that an astronaut can have a space-bound experience that forever changes them into a person who can never find meaning in the normal humdrum way of life. Earth becomes too small and mankind’s ideas are too limited when compared to the vastness of space. But it takes that starting point and goes into an internal death spiral when it bogs down into mental breakdown of the female astronaut in question.

Lucy Cola (Natalie Portman) is a NASA Mission Specialist on the Space Shuttle. During a recent walk into space during the mission, Lucy is overwhelmed with the contrast of Space versus the Earth. That little Pale Blue Dot, that Third Rock from the Sun – that is her home, but now it all seems so insignificant.  She returns to Earth, back to NASA outside of Houston, where she lives with her husband Drew (Dan Stevens). Her frail mother Nana (Ellen Burstyn) has always pushed Lucy to the edge of her ability, just to prove to the men that she was better. Director Paxton (Colman Domingo) is impressed with Mission Specialist Cola, and he puts her on a short list for a future space mission.

Lucy is a little out-of-sorts, with feelings that her life will not be the same. The only goal in her life is become one of the next on board the Shuttle. Another woman trainee astronaut named Erin (Zazie Beetz) becomes Lucy’s friend, and Lucy wants to be her mentor. Just as long as she is well-trained, but not trained enough to take Lucy’s precious slot on a future trip into space. Lucy also meets a dashing Shuttle pilot named Mark (Jon Hamm). He tells Lucy that those few people who have gone up into orbit have become members of an exclusive club.

Because Mark and Lucy are ‘space’ people, they also happen to form a closer, more intimate bond. They have a torrid affair, away from her husband – and he has an estranged marriage that on the rocks. Lucy becomes more clingy and more needy – knowing that Mark has been ‘up there’. Her life becomes less and less in control – as she makes some decisions that will come back to haunt her. Her mother passes away, and Lucy is filled with a huge empty void. Mark pushes Lucy away, and he becomes more attracted to Erin. Director Paxton sees all the turmoil in Lucy’s life right now. He puts her on the Shuttle ‘no-fly’ list, until gets her head back on straight.

Lucy becomes more internal and focused on a singular mission. This new Mission will affect her and her close friends, but they do not yet know about it. When everything becomes clear to her, the means to the end that she seeks is all that matters. There is nothing that will stop her and there is nothing that will stand in her way. However, in those weeks after Lucy came back down to Earth, her mind was still free-floating out in space…

“Lucy in the Sky” wants to soar up into the stratosphere, but by the end – it has become a failed mission that burned out in an aborted take-off. The ideas are quite large and ponderous. But the overly ‘show-off’ style in the direction puts on the retro-rockets more often than not. Changing the aspect ratio of the screen, making it wider and then more narrow – this seems to be a visual clue to the scrambled ideas in Lucy’s head. But the results on the screen make it look phony. Also, the transition shot of Lucy standing still when the world and the streets are zooming past her is a very fun to watch. But in the end, even that does not seem to help the story out. Noah Hawley has tried some spectacular feats, but has not lived up to many of them.

Natalie Portman does her best as Lucy. But she is burdened with a ‘too twangy’ accent and a hairdo from back in the ’60’s. Those things make it hard for her to soar. She has some nice moments with Ellen Burstyn as her mother. Portman and Jon Hamm also have good chemistry. But it is not believable that she would dump her life for a good-looking party boy. At least not after just a couple of weeks back down from space. The acting very good from everyone in the cast, but the overall plot drags them down. It has a visual bag of tricks, but just a very Earth-bound script.