top of page
  • Nate Adams

'Moonshot' review: A slightly above average teenage love story set in space


Courtesy of HBO Max

 

With the advances in modern day technology combined with the Jeff Bezos’ and Elon Musk’s of the world striving for intergalactic travel, the premise of Christopher Winterbauer’s “Moonshot” doesn’t seem illogical. Set in the distant future where humans can relocate to Mars and punch their ticket into space for upwards of $50k a piece, “Moonshot” every so slightly tampers with the teenager romantic comedy to send two star-crossed lovers into orbit. As is the case with any movie where chemistry is a vital selling point for engagement, “Moonshot” benefits from Cole Sprouse (of “Riverdale” fame) and Lana Condor (“To All the Boys I Loved Before”) playing two unlikely pals who, beneath the surface, might have more commonality than they expected.


Sprouse plays Walt and Condor is Sophie, both are heading to Mars for the same reason but with different objectives. Since Walt was a child, he’s dreamt of traveling to Mars though after getting rejected from several scholarship panels, the hefty price tag proves insurmountable. When he meets “the girl of his dreams” the night before she leaves for a Mars expedition, he decides to get creative and sneak aboard the air ducts of a commercial rocket and surprise her. Meanwhile, Sophie is planning an interplanetary voyage to be reunited with her long-term boyfriend (Mason Gooding) who’s living on the red planet studying for his thesis.


Naturally, the two find each other on air space one (not the official name, but it’s what I’m calling it) and hatch a plan to keep Walt from being scoped out by security personnel because of his stowaway status. It won’t take a rocket scientist to figure out where this will go as their relationship begins in true odd couple fashion: Two people who couldn’t be more tonal opposites end up gravitating towards each other and the spunk of both Sprouse and Condor has enough cache to rise above the scripts not so-subtle predictability. Sure, give it a shot.


Grade: B-


MOONSHOT debuts on HBO MAX Thursday, March 31st.


Subscribe here to have every review sent directly to your inbox!

NEVER MISS A REVIEW!

Be the first to know!

Thanks for subscribing to TheOnlyCritic.com!

bottom of page