Asa Butterfield

Britt Robertson

Carla Gugino

Gary Oldman

Janet Montgomery

BD Wong

Trey Tucker

Scott Takeda

Adande 'Swoozie' Thorne

Sarah Minnich

Ryan Jason Cook

Lauren Chavez-Myers

Morse Bicknell

Beth Bailey

Peter Chelsom

William Sterchi

Anthony Jarvis

Zacciah Hanson

Jesse Romero

Tim Janis

Kristen DeVore Rakes

Aurora Antonio

Bruce McIntosh

Lora Martinez-Cunningham

David House

John-Paul Howard

Logan Paul

Luce Rains

Esodie Geiger

Charles Arnone

Stafford Douglas

Travis Armstrong

Matthew Page

Mia Stallard

David Devereaux

Jacob Browne

Jenny Gabrielle

Gil Birmingham

Bernardo P. Saracino

Eli Goodman

Nate Warren

Ramona King

Drago Sumonja

Colin Egglesfield

Eb Lottimer

Ramsey Scott

Frank Powers

Shad Adair

Nathaniel Augustson

Danny Winn

Edsel Pete

Marika Day

Jamie H. Jung

Heather Bash

Shawn Lecrone

Johnny Palomarez Jr.

Lluvia Almanza

Thomas Kemp

Alma Sisneros

Brian Barela

Jon Erik Castro

Lorraine Sanchez

Kelly V. Lucio

Ed Duran

Hannah Betts

Stewart Schill

Steven DeSantis

Jo Edna Boldin

Domenic Silvestri

Jeff Halsey

Jordan Corngold

Christopher Lawrence

Loren Marie Story

Marie A. Kohl

Peter Rosenfeld

Brian Malone

Michael Craig Ferguson

Louis Delavenne

Pernell L. Salinas

Richard Barton Lewis

Tyler Allison

Stephen Bettles

Roberta Bilé

Michelle Vittone

Jason Markey

Jack English

Myron Nettinga

Karla Muenze

Donna L. May

Allan Loeb

Sara M. Pennington

Sharron Reynolds-Enriquez

Brett Carroll

Vince Nicastro

Patrick Cyccone Jr.

Todd Toon

Larry Waggoner

Wynema Chavez

Ryan Meadows

Liz Pecos

Barry Peterson

Robert Settlemire

Lea E. Miller

Martyn Zub

Kirk M. Petruccelli

Melissa Kennelly

Hans Bjerno

Charlie Campagna

David Moritz

James M. Cox

Kostas Theodosiou

Chase Heard

Donna Casey-Aira

Cathy Sandrich Gelfond

Jessica Anderson

Ando Johnson

Stacy Caballero

Andrew Lockington

John Albanis

Robbie Brenner

Jerry Ye

Adam Fogelson

Robert Simonds

Cherilyn Hawrysh

Oren Aviv

Steven Pearl

Sasha Harari

Jeffrey Soros

Donald Tang

Douglas Urbanski

Gabrielle Jerou

Simon Horsman

Ryan Kavanaugh

Wang Zhongjun

Kevin Halloran

Tucker Tooley

Wang Zhonglei

Cathy Schulman

Patrick Murray

Hugh Waddell

Jeffrey Steven Brink

Julie Feiner

Douglas T. Madison

Charles Croughwell

Melinda Sue Gordon

Romance

Adventure

Science Fiction

Drama

The Space Between Us

Los Angeles Media Fund

Southpaw Entertainment

STXfilms

Scarlet Fire Entertainment

Huayi Brothers Pictures

Universal Pictures

China

United States of America

Frank Ochieng

Somehow Hollywood continues to search for different outlets in conveying young love at the box office. Sure, the goal is always the same in terms of tapping into the youth market by promoting yet another transparent teen weepie but this time among the planetary stars. Hey, youngsters need catering at the movie theaters as well, right? However, one is not so convinced that the Young Adults (YA) genre is convincingly elevated by a flimsy frontier sci-fi romancer among the Clearasil crowd. Hence, **The Space Between Us** fits the bill as a scattershot and schmaltzy pimple-faced love story that has all the emotional stability of moon dust in front of a heavy duty oscillating fan.

Writer-director Peter Chelsom (“Funny Bones”, “Serendipity”) and fellow screenwriters Allan Loeb and Tinker Lindsay delve into the conventional cliches of a lame star-crossed lovers theme that wreaks of saccharine-coated simplicity wrapped in scientific triteness. The awkward mixture of lightweight sci-fi drama, pandering gooey-eyed overtures toward teenage girls still nostalgically embracing their _Twilight_ fixation and space-age elements as filler exploration makes for a paper-cutter potency that creates unwanted space between us or any other species watching this cosmic claptrap. Give Chelsom some credit–at least his young protagonists are not another incarnation of obligatory hairy werewolves or fanged vampires, right?

The adolescent pen pals in **The Space Between Us** are truly from different worlds although this does not stop these particular kids from bonding deeply. Advanced academic in sixteen-year old Gardner Elliot (Asa Butterfield) is having a time of his life in corresponding with the edgy Tulsa (Britt Robertson) in the chat rooms. Whereas Gardner is a whiz in robotics and comes from prestigious stock (his late mother was a pioneering astronaut) his object of affection Tulsa is a motorcycle-loving wild child that had bounced around in the foster care system. The glaring differences between the unlikely young couple is that the scientifically gifted Gardner is located on Mars and Tulsa is a gritty gal living on Earth in the state of Colorado. Geez…talking about long distant relationships, huh?

Poor Gardner has always entertained the thought of traveling to Earth–the home planet of his deceased explorer mother who died giving birth to him during her mission to colonize Mars. So now there is more of an incentive for Gardner to yearn for visiting Earth now that his curiosity and fascination with Tulsa has heightened. At this point all Martian Gardner has going for him socially is his guardian/”second” mother in astronaut/scientist Kendra Wyndham (Carla Gugino) and his robotic pal he built to provide him companionship. The cruel reality for Gardner not being able to take a trip to Earth has something to do with his sensitive Martian-bred bodily functioning not being able to withstand the atmospheric gravity settings on our planet (huh…is he not half Earthling?). All Gardner wants to do is come to terms with connecting to the planet Earth and finding some self-discovery about himself and self-fulfillment with his Colorado-based crush in the leather-clad Tulsa.

Of course the film figures out–in convoluted fashion no doubt–how to place the inquisitive Gardner on earth-related soil through the far-fetched means of a billionaire Nathaniel Shepherd (Gary Oldman) funding the experimentation and expedition of the Red Planet-raised tyke whose dream of reaching the planet that houses his unknown father and his precious Tulsa. Soon, the inevitability of Gardner meeting up with his dreamgirl comes true as the teenage twosome take off and find liberation in each other’s company as the authorities are hot on their trail. Look out Romeo and Juliet…you have a cheesy carbon copy coupling seeking to steal your familiar thunder.

**The Space Between Us** produces more sappy substance than a row of Vermont trees. The fish-out-of-water routine that Butterfield’s Gardner undergoes when reaching Earth is mechanically clumsy and predictable. Butterfield does what he can to portray Gardner as an alien just not from another planet but from his own skin and this notion is philosophically ambitious to pull off for an interstellar teen tearjerker that has all the complexity of a sofa cushion. Robertson’s Tulsa is the typical rebellious chick but her and Butterfield’s Gardner become tiresome as they engage in manufactured chase scenes, teen-angst lovey-dovey lameness and the dragged-out space travel drivel that beleaguers this simplistic sci-fi yarn.

The results in **The Space Between Us** is alarming more than charming because once the payoff is realized where Gardner and Tulsa draw energy from each other’s worldly vibes as they cuddle in zero gravity one will be left wondering where the next asteroid is coming to act as the needed wrecking ball to obliterate this toothless sci-fi saga aimed at the indiscriminate teen targets.

**The Space Between Us (2017)**

STX Entertainment

2 hrs.

STARRING: Asa Butterfield, Brit Robertson, Gary Oldman, Gina Gugino, Janet Montgomery, Trey Tucker, Scott Takeda, Adande “Swoozie” Thorne, Sarah Minnich

DIRECTED BY: Peter Chelsom

WRITTEN BY: Peter Chelsom, Tinker Lindsay Allan Loeb

MPAA Rating: PG-13

GENRE: Action & Adventure/Science Fiction/Fantasy & Romance

Critic’s rating: ** stars (out of 4 stars)

(c) **Frank Ochieng** 2017

Reno

**What's your favourite thing about Earth?**

You might ask that question for yourself while/after watching this film. This is not a great film, but surely different and enjoyable. This kind of storyline can be acceptable for the todays space ambition by the humans they have to accomplish. A couple of decades ago, it was called a fiction, still it is, but quite close to realistically possible.

So we had seen many films based on human connection with the red planet, Mars, but this one was a little different. It is romance theme, though not like east meets west. It is Mars meets Earth. The story of a boy from Mars and the girl from Earth. That's how it ends, but not that how it was initiated. It was the boy who searched for his connection with the Earth, and doing that, all the usual things happen, like some people come after him, like running and chasing.

Well made film. It was not a complicated screenplay, but the twist was unexpected at the end yet I did not think it was strong. Explained everything with details, as well as intentionally added some of scenes to cover up later parts when the narration takes the unexpected route. Best cast for sure.

Britt Robertson played the role ten years younger than her she is. But it does not matter, she still looks like a teenager. And Asa Butterfield was quite good too. The only usual thing about the film was the road adventure, though it did not take the usual route. Nothing was like you have already seen them. That's where it hand upper hand. The end was good, yet I felt it softened to bring a certain type of ending than a relevant one. Because it is a PG13 film and they wanted the conclusion that satisfy their target audience. So, it is a nice film and once watchable.

_7/10_

English

The Space Between Us | "Mission" TV Commercial | Own it Now on Digital HD, Blu-ray™ & DVD

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The Space Between Us | Official Trailer 3 | Own it Now on Digital HD, Blu-ray™ & DVD

The Space Between Us | "Romance" TV Commercial | Own it Now on Digital HD, Blu-ray™ & DVD

The Space Between Us | "Experience" TV Commercial | Own it Now on Digital HD, Blu-ray™ & DVD

The Space Between Us | Official Trailer 2 | Own it Now on Digital HD, Blu-ray™ & DVD

The Space Between Us | Official Trailer | Own it Now on Digital HD, Blu-ray™ & DVD