Director Shelagh McLeod
Starring Richard Dreyfuss, Lyriq Bent, Krista Bridges
Rated PG
Score 5/6

A lonely widower battles his family, ill health and time to win a competition for a golden ticket to space.

Astronaut will be available to rent or buy on April 8 on Apple TV, Fetch TV, Foxtel Store, Google Play and YouTube.

The world is a screwed up place and that at the moment it would seem more so then usual, so I suppose now is the time that we need a few more movies that are a little more heartfelt then your garden variety action movie. That is what you’re going to get from a movie like Astronaut. Now, yes Astronaut does have that the importance of follow your dreams running through the movie. However, it did not commit the cardinal sin of crossing the line and becoming to sugary sweet (sugary sweet movies are okay but only in small doses) this was because of the performances of Richard Dreyfuss and Richie Lawrence.
I went into this because it had been more then a few years since I had last watched a movie starring Richard Dreyfuss. There were a couple of familiar faces cast in this in the form of Graham Greene and Colin Mochrie. I was completely unfamiliar with writer/director Shelagh McLeod’s work. It turns out that McCloud has directed a handful of shorts and this is her first feature lengthy movie. I must admit that it was a pleasant surprise to see that Colin Mochrie was cast in this as I was only familiar with his work on The Drew Carey Show and Whose Line is it Anyway. I really enjoyed Richie Lawrence’s performance as Barney Williams the grandson, the scenes that he had with Richard Dreyfuss had me smiling more than twice. I hope that I see more of Lawrence’s work in the future.