Watch free movies

Space Station 76 is based on a stage play by the same name (and starring a handful of the same cast members), and brought to the screen by director/co-writer Jack Plotnick (known for his current off-broadway hit Disaster! and an active character acting career). As with any talky stage play-to-movie adaptation, there are challenges, and Plotnick does a decent job opening up the film’s settings. Yet there’s only so far you can go when you’re limited to a one-place setting, even if it’s setting is outer space.

High 70s kitsch permeates every frame of the film, and great credit goes to the masterful production and costume design. Visual effects are a combination of in camera and digital, always in the style of a Logan’s Run or Silent Running. The soundtrack is perfectly curated to include soft rock found on many an AM station, or an 8-track tape, or in the outer space of many a 70s housewife’s valium enlightened mind (cue Todd Rundgren, I Saw the Light).

All of this goes a long way to help SS76, but it’s a lot of form over substance. Whether you’ll appreciate it depends on your tolerance of family drama, particularly post-sexual revolution tension with your send up of a 70’s pop-culture future. It’s a strange combination. One that’s not necessarily a comedy, but not necessarily a drama. It’s also not necessarily a satire, nor is it necessarily free of camp. It’s The Ice Storm set in the decade’s idea of space travel and living conditions.

Jokes range from visual sight gags to dark jabs at the never-ending existence of machismo in science-fiction. The robot co-stars get most of the laughs, but a lot of it, again, is due to the brilliant production design.

The entire cast is well placed. Patrick Wilson gets to work in broader strokes, hamming it up as the conflicted Captain Glenn. Liv Tyler is, as always, a beautiful strong leading lady. Supporting cast is great, with a particularly adorable Kylie Rogers (Mob City) as the token kid. Watch for a loopy cameo from Keir Dullea that does a parody of the video phone sequence in 2001.

Overall, the film rarely hits warp speed, and often times it’s slow moving. I didn’t necessarily get space-sick from this journey, but I did think the film could use some edits to move along the impending astroid collision plot device.