REVIEW: The Space Between UsBy Quinn OxleyFebruary 3, 2017The first person born on Mars falls in love with a native Earthling.  Hilarity ensues.

Not so much hilarity, but more… frustration.

The Space Between Us is just… awkward.  Uncomfortable.  Not pleasant.  And it started out with a premise that had such promise, which makes it doubly disappointing.  I try not to judge a movie on what it could have been, but with this movie, it’s so hard not to.

We start with awkward exposition.  We move to awkward pacing, awkward blocking, and awkward dialogue.  We end with awkward resolution.  It’s not useless for entertainment, but it’s so.  Awkward.

Given, Gardner Elliot (Asa Butterfield, AKA the cutest human being alive, not biased) is not used to interacting with many others, but he hasn’t been living in complete isolation for sixteen years.  He becomes the most socially ignorant teenager I’ve ever seen.  And not in the charming way.  (It doesn’t help that his character is used to a different gravity, which makes his gait on- and off-planet laughable.)  Tulsa (Britt Robertson) is annoyingly bitter and flat until she makes a 180-degree turn for no real reason, after which point she’s annoyingly sentimental and flat.

The tone and scenes shift too rapidly for the audience to enjoy the narrative.  The Space Between Us develops unusually quickly, and not because it has too much of a story to tell, but because the movie seems to want to focus on arbitrary, seemingly less significant elements of the story.  The characters are poorly developed and consist of one dimension, making it hard to see any kind of relevant arc.

The premise, however, does provide some interesting thought exercises.  What would you appreciate more if you were experiencing it for the first time?  Maybe I’m just a romantic, but something about the film’s emotional appeal drew me in and got me thinking.

Is it good, though?

It’s not worth the $10, if that’s what you’re asking.  I don’t know if I’d even say it was worth renting.  Save yourself the two hours and instead just read a philosophy book to gain some perspective.

Rating: 3.5/10

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