Lucy in the Sky

By: Maggie Stankiewicz

Lucy in the Sky follows straight-edge Lucy Cola (Natalie Portman) back down on earth after an awe-inspiring trip into outer space. It forces audiences to watch as she slowly dismantles the life she built in hopes of floating amongst the stars once more. Directed by prolific television writer and producer Noah Hawley, Lucy in the Sky had everything it needed to succeed…except for well-written or likable characters. Lucy in the Sky is, unfortunately, another film with a stellar concept and subterranean execution.

When Lucy Cola touches back down on Earth after her first space expedition her entire world changes. Just by visiting the foreign place she’s inducted into an elite population who have visited the space beyond the clouds. Her fellow travelers at NASA invite her into their exclusive bowling league where she befriends an unlikely crew. There’s the devilishly charming Mark Goodwin (Jon Hamm), the bookish and authoritative Jim Hunt (Jeffrey Donovan) and the easy-going Kate Mounier (Tig Notaro). The space goers get Lucy drunk, giving the Southern belle her first taste of debauchery.

Sadly, Lucy’s time on Earth is too menial for her after seeing it all from the stars. In a desperate attempt to reconcile with her shift in perspective, she begins shirking her responsibilities. Lucy starts lying to her husband Drew (Dan Stevens) and making less attempts at connecting with her niece Blue Iris (Pearl Amanda Dickson), whom her brother abandoned in the midst of his own mania. The only earthly beings Lucy can tolerate are her smart mouthed but ailing Nana Holbrook (Ellen Burstyn) and fellow space traveler Mark. It doesn’t take long for Mark’s charm and brooding sadness to strip Lucy of her resolve. As Lucy’s existential crisis intensifies, so does her relationship with Mark.

Lucy quickly destroys her personal life while attempting to build-up her professional life in hopes of getting a second trip into space, but the two lines of her identity intersect and chaos ensues. Lucy’s Nana passes away, Mark is revealed to be having affairs with another astronaut named Erin (Zazie Beetz), Lucy leaves Drew, she almost dies in an underwater simulation and so much more! She even grabs her niece and embarks on a cross-country journey to assault Mark and plea for another chance at interstellar glory.

If this sounds like an exciting, fast-paced turn of events to you – it is and it isn’t. Lucy in the Sky is full of plot points and conflict, but none of the emotional beats stick. It takes too long for things to happen and when they do, they fall flat. When Lucy assaults Mark for his indiscretions she merely sprays him with some insect repellant. It’s missteps like these that make a film like Lucy in the Sky fail to takeoff. Even with actors like Natalie Portman and John Hamm something is missing. The film tries to take technical liberties as well by periodically changing the aspect ratios of the film, perhaps to show the difference of the micro/macro dichotomy of living in the world and watching it from above, but the execution is sloppy and removes audiences from the narrative.

The shining stars of the film then are the victims of Lucy Cola and her Space Romeo, Mark. Drew Cola is a genuinely good man who assumes the role of step-in parent to Blue Iris even when Lucy is too preoccupied to do it herself. Nana is hilarious, charming and perhaps the toughest women in the galaxy. Blue Iris is just a lost girl looking for someone to love her who chooses the wrong alliance while seeking out a family. If only director Hawley could have focused the story on these characters – the most compelling, beautiful stories in the entire film – then maybe, just maybe Lucy in the Sky would be worth a watch.