The Astronaut Farmer (2007)

Every big dream sounds a little crazy at first, and some sound crazier than others. If you can make the big leap of faith that Michael Polish's "The Astronaut Farmer" asks of you, you'll probably enjoy this good-natured film about the importance of holding onto your dreams. Billy Bob Thornton stars as Charlie Farmer, a Texas rancher who once trained as an astronaut before family duty called him home, and who now has a homemade rocket in his barn and a burning desire to launch himself into orbit. Even though Charlie is buried in debt and facing foreclosure, his wife, Audie (Virginia Madsen), and their kids stand firmly behind his mission, even as it draws the unwelcome attention of the FAA, the FBI, the national media and a seasoned Air Force colonel and old colleague (Bruce Willis, uncredited). At one of his lowest moments, Charlie insists that without dreams, we have nothing, and this quirky, offbeat and unapologetically sentimental drama embraces that message with disarming sincerity. It's hard to suspend disbelief when the film skips over so many practical details - where exactly does a guy get an old NASA space capsule? - and in aiming for a Capra-esque, Western-flavored take on the American dream, the Polish brothers, Michael directing and his twin, Mark, co-writing, are only partly successful in making Charlie's ambition feel believable. The indie filmmakers, making their mainstream debut after "Twin Falls Idaho" and "Northfork," fare better when the film plays as a post-space-age fable for families, and it's involving enough to make the climax emotionally rewarding. That's largely thanks to Thornton, Madsen and a supporting cast including Bruce Dern and Tim Blake Nelson, who handle the delicate material with the sincerity it needs. Fittingly, Elton John's "Rocket Man" plays over the finale. With private companies like Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and SpaceX since turning civilian space travel into reality, the film stands as an admirable, forgivably flawed reminder that we should never stop reaching for the stars.