Au-delà des étoiles

This feel good film with a little touch of SF is a little gem and I don't think it gets the appreciation it deserves.

You shouldn't take the film too seriously but it has its heart in the right place and that's what I think is most important.

Eric dreams of a future as an astronaut, when he is more or less forced to stay with his father for a few weeks he accidentally gets the chance to meet his idol, the famous austronaut Paul Andrews, through a new girlfriend.

That first meeting doesn't go so well but gradually a friendship develops between the two.

Ok that aspect could have been worked out a bit better but basically the story is entertaining enough.

Christian Slater, Martin Sheen, and also Sharon Stone do well in their roles.

When I read the description, and the film's title, I was expecting some pretty cheesy 80's TV treacle. However, as a sucker for movies that involve NASA in some regard, particularly those that deal with the Apollo Program, I had to give it a try.

I was very surprised, then, to find myself being drawn into it and caring about the characters. It was much better than I had expected, and the performances were quite solid. Sheen and Foxworth were very good, Slater was reasonably believable, and Abraham stole his scenes. The female characters were sympathetic and believable. I was also surprised how front and center Apollo was - it didn't just serve as a disposable backdrop for the drama. All in all Beyond the Stars was well worth the viewing, but I agree that the sci-fi ending did cheapen the drama slightly. And the title - whew - they could have done better than that!

I have to chuckle, however, at a description I read of Slater's character being a "troubled" teenager. Ha! Most people should be so lucky to have a kid that respects his parents, wants to follow in his dad's footsteps and study science and math, and plans to go to MIT. Yeah - that kid's a real disaster.

Anyway, a few of the technical space details were off (particularly during the Huntsville trip), and the music was pretty dated, but those are mostly nits. Overall this was a reasonably intelligent and mature drama with a strong Apollo background - and an unexpected pleasure.

Beyond the Stars is one of those surprising movies. It has a great cast that give very good performances despite the low-budget feel of the film. While the underlying subjects of the movie may not apeal to many people, the time-honored coming of age story that involves all of the main characters should be appreciated by the most basic of movie viewers.

The surprising "twist," which is not much of a twist at all, is a nice addition for those that are the "dreamers" for whom the film was obviously written.

Beyond the Stars is a much under-appreciated film that deserves a look. I'm sure you'll be surprised as well.

Failed mish-mash of adolescent drama, preachy ecologic messages, and very weak sci-fi. The astronaut scenes on the moon look like they were filmed for a "Saturday Night Live" episode. In other words, all credibility flies out the window. Christian Slater as the aspiring astronaut, idolizes astronaut Martin Sheen who returned from the moon with a secret. The script is simplistic, preachy, and contrived. The relationship problems are simplistic, preachy, and boring. Throw in a jab at NASA for layoffs, a save the whales message, a moon crater no deeper than a backyard swimming pool, and finally the no surprise ending, and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to know this is a dud. - MERK

My review was written in May 1989 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.

Martin Sheen's ever-ready support for liberal causes isn't enough to put over "Personal Choice", a sappy, heavy-handed message picture aimed at theaters but too weak to qualify as even a made-for-tv feature.

"Cocoon" author Davod Saperstein offers a lifeless tale of an astronaut (Sheen) stricken with eventually fatal radiation poisoning during his moonwalk on a mid-1970s Apollo mission.

His bitter memories and disillusionment are rekindled when a gung-ho teen (Christian Slater) who idolizes him befriends the hermit-like Sheen while visting his divorced father, who lives nearby. Script contrivance has dad (Robert Foxworth), a NASA scientist who has been laod off, cuing a late-in-film confrontation with Sheen over who really did the work, the space scientists or the flyboys.

Despite the presence of beautiful leading ladies Olivia D'Abo and Sharon Stone (as Slater's and Foxworth's girlfriends), pic is all talk and almost no physical action. Characters remain remote and Saperstein muffs an emotional climax scene by framing a sentimental photo of a character with an in-joke of a "Cocoon" paperback in the foreground.

With cryptic flashbacks of Sheen's moonwalk ladled out every so often, film finally delives it message direct to the camera long after viewers have lost interest: from out in space one can obtain the perspective to see what we're doing on Earth, and want to fix it right now.

Icing on he cake is a laughable cameo by no less than F. Murray Abraham as a wheelchair-bound scientist (injured in an incident with a nasty Japanese whaling ship!) who exhorts us to stop killing the whales. Saperstein's message is, of course, correct and timely, but delivered in a form suitable for showing only at fundraisers attended by the committed.

Sheen is relentlessly earnest and boring, while Slater still displays those annoying Jack Nicholon inflections and mannerims (apparenty internalized) that have plagued his recent roles. If Nicholson had been cast as the astronaut (a la "Terms of Endearment") Slater's idolizing might have come off.

Lensed largely in Vancouve (with a touristy stopoff in Huntsville, Alabama, to visit NASA artifacts), pic is visually bland. A brief special-effects finale looks tacked-on and silly.