Emma Roberts dreams of blasting into space in her new film “Space Cadet”, a harmless yet ludicrous comedy written and directed by Liz W. Garcia. It’s a movie that (I think) wants to promote female empowerment and it has a hearty message about second chances when it comes to pursuing your dreams. But it’s hard to take those things seriously when the film makes suspending your disbelief this difficult.

“Space Cadet” feels like a movie that did the bare minimum when it came time to research our space program. Yes, it throws in some proper terminology and portions were shot at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. But it’s all so silly and far-fetched, especially its depiction of NASA. I get that it’s just a movie and realism probably wasn’t a priority. But you can’t help but wonder what country would support such an inept space program? Suffice it to say NASA won’t be using “Space Cadet” in any of its recruitment drives.

Among the film’s few bright spots is Roberts who does her very best with what she’s given. She plays Tiffany “Rex” Simpson, a flighty Florida party girl who once had big dreams of becoming an astronaut. These days she works as a beachside bartender and saves manatees in her spare time. She lives with her father Calvin (Sam Robards) who leads ghost hunting tours and still struggles with the loss of her mother who died ten years earlier. Oh, and she has an eccentric best friend Nadine (Poppy Liu) because these movies always have an eccentric best friend who exists solely for comic relief.

After a rather out-of-the-blue epiphany, Rex decides she wants to be an astronaut again. So she fills out an application to the NASA Training Program (as if that’s all it takes to be an astronaut). Nadine gets ahold of the application and secretly spruces it up a bit, wildly embellishing Rex’s achievements and qualifications. And wouldn’t you know it, this comically incompetent NASA chooses Rex to be a part of their exclusive program (so I guess that is all it takes to be an astronaut in this world).

Rex travels to Johnson Space Center in Houston where she joins the supposedly elite group of trainees chosen to compete for jobs at NASA. The handful of finalists will take part in a mission to the International Space Station. Of course the bubbly and buoyant Rex sticks out like a sore thumb among all of the legit serious-minded geniuses. But she quickly begins to win everyone over including her superiors. Among them is the hunky but incredibly dense Logan O’Leary (Tom Hopper). He’s the Deputy Director of Operations and an astronaut, but he’s mainly there to serve as Rex’s eventual love interest.

It may surprise you, but all of that is the movie at its most realistic. Things only get more preposterous from there. So much so that it’s impossible to look past the absurdity no matter how hard you try. As a result, not only does the story suffer but the characters do as well. They’re all so thinly written and as unconvincing as the silly tale they’re handcuffed to. It’s unfortunate, especially when you see Roberts giving it her all. To her credit, she makes the movie endurable. But as with any actor, she can only do so much with bad material. “Space Cadets” is streaming now on Prime Video.

VERDICT – 1.5 STARS