Film Review: Spaceman is one of Adam Sandler's rare forays into drama 

Adam Sandler delivers a fine performance, albeit one that is undermined by the disappointingly prosaic form of his alien counterpart

Spaceman film

• Spaceman
• ★★★☆☆
• Netflix

Jakub (Adam Sandler) is the Spaceman (12A) on a solo mission to investigate a strange particle cloud beyond Jupiter. 

The endeavour starts to go wrong when his pregnant wife Lenka (Carey Mulligan) begins refusing his calls home.

Trapped in his claustrophobic tin can 450m miles from home, and more alone than anyone has ever been whilst suffering from sleep deprivation, Jakub is terrified when he discovers that an alien creature — a gigantic spider voiced by Paul Dano — has infiltrated his craft.

Is it a hallucination? And does it matter if the monster isn’t real? 

Adapted by Colby Day from Jaroslav Kalfar’s novel Spaceman of Bohemia, and directed by Johan Renck, Spaceman is one of Adam Sandler’s occasional forays into serious drama, and — just as he did in Punch Drunk Love and Hustle — he delivers a fine performance, albeit one that is undermined by the disappointingly prosaic form of his alien counterpart: As much as we want to believe in the giant spider, it simply doesn’t convince.

What is persuasive, however, is Jakub’s existential crisis, scenes in which he comes to realise the extent to which he has betrayed his beloved Lenka, who grows into a wonderfully subtle character courtesy of the consistently excellent Carey Mulligan.