Emma Roberts, multitalented scream queen/rom-com princess, headlines Prime Video’s airy space-hopeful comedy, peppered with a dash of her spicy persona. Carrying the silly energy of a peak Disney Channel Original Movie and the cutesy charms of Legally Blonde, writer/director Liz W. Garcia’s Space Cadet has a literal blast with its zippy premise. Roberts plays Tiffany “Rex” Simpson, a hard-partying, alligator-wrangling waitress whose hopes and dreams for the future have faded in the years since her mother’s passing. A game cast and a candy-colored look into NASA’s astronaut training program provide plenty of oxygen for entertaining light comedy hijinks.
In Cocoa Beach, Florida, Rex has the time of her life, but not-so-long-ago, the dream of traveling to space with her mom was the only thing that mattered. As her ten-year high school reunion approaches, Rex begins to realize there may be more to life than hanging out with bedazzled bestie Nadine (Poppy Liu) by the pool, or helping her dad (Sam Robards) spook guests on his ghost tours. Though Rex once had a full ride to George Tech, she deferred, and eventually did not end up attending at all in the wake of her mother’s sickness. Taking a leap of faith, Rex applies to the astronaut training program despite being supremely under-qualified for the gig. Her passionate cover letter as applicant lays bare her drive and uniqueness; unbeknownst to Rex, Nadine tweaks the letter to lavishly exaggerate Rex’s resume.
Meanwhile, the astronaut selection committee, on the hunt for “unconventional applicants,” takes particular notice of Rex’s submission. At the urging of Pam (Gabrielle Union) and Logan (Tom Hopper), they push Rex through, much to her very own surprise. Viewing Rex as something of an “experimentalist,” they invite Rex to train at the center in Houston, Texas, with thirty-four others. Passing a complete set of intensive physical and psychological evaluations will not be easy—never mind that Rex is definitely no scientist or pilot. The script takes a fun fish-out-of-water approach to Rex’s experience in the program, as she must navigate and eventually pretend to know what she is doing.
Along the way, Rex forms a tight friendship with self-published romance novelist and self-proclaimed weirdo, Violet (Kuhoo Verma), and gets closer than one would imagine with Logan. Despite not being properly credentialled or acclimated to any kind of professional environment, Rex may be just what the space program needs. She leads a group-sing of “Call Me Maybe” to get through the intensive elliptical sessions, helps decompress a stick situation with fellow hopeful, Dr. Stacy (Desi Lydic), and at one point, duets with Logan on a karaoke rendition of “Mr. Jones” by Counting Crows. As the cuts get more intense—eventually dwindling down to just four remaining—Rex’s secret grows closer to being discovered.
Space Cadet remains light and fluffy throughout, rarely dwelling in the realm of realism. The trainees are ascans (pronounced humorously as “ass cans”), short for astronaut candidates. Rex, while being full of vibrant personality, would not actually be submitted in any real-world scenario. Nadine plays games with Logan, pretending to be every single one of Rex’s references over the phone. Take it or leave it—Liz W. Garcia makes no false proclamations about what kind of movie this is, and stays consistent from start to finish. Visualizing Rex’s childhood “dream book” provides a neat visual pastiche to bookend the character’s exciting growth. Fans of Emma Roberts will discover a veritable feast of delights, and for everyone else, Space Cadet should still be a summery comedic distraction. So what if its “love story” is half baked, or the camaraderie more processed than space cheese? The beating heart underneath, as Rex speaks to her mother from afar, gives an innate relatability for those who have lost a parent. Without a simulation to run the diagnostics, Space Cadet manages to function as a super-sweet movie all on its own.
Blast off into space with Emma Roberts in Space Cadet, streaming globally for Prime Video subscribers on the 4th of July.
