Lucy in the Sky

Name: Lucy in the Sky
Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama
Released: October 4, 2019
Duration: 124 min
Rating: 36
Cast: Christopher Darga, Colman Domingo, Dan Stevens, Ellen Burstyn, Jeffrey Donovan

2019

METASCORE

Generally unfavorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 29 Ratings

See All

4.4

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

4.4	Your Score
4.4	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 29 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Play Sound

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

Lucy In The Sky (Trailer 2)

Now Playing: Lucy In The Sky (Trailer 2)

Movie Details & Credits

Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: October 4, 2019 | R

Starring: Christopher Darga, Colman Domingo, Dan Stevens, Ellen Burstyn, Jeffrey Donovan, Jeremiah Birkett, Jon Hamm, Natalie Portman, Nick Offerman, Pearl Amanda Dickson, Tig Notaro, Zazie Beetz

Summary: Lucy Cola (Natalie Portman) is a strong woman whose determination and drive as an astronaut take her to space, where she’s deeply moved by the transcendent experience of seeing her life from afar. Back home as Lucy’s world suddenly feels too small, her connection with reality slowly unravels.

Director: Noah Hawley

Genre(s): Sci-Fi, Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 124 min

See All Details and Credits

Watch Now

Buy on

Stream On

Expand

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

Oliver Jones

Oct 3, 2019

Portman’s delicate and damaged portrayal is mesmerizing. Read full review

The Guardian Peter Bradshaw

Sep 12, 2019

It is a witty, intriguing film in many ways ... But I also feel the film is unsure of how much to disturb its audience, unsure whether to pursue the chaos and embarrassment of a bungled, noir-ish crime and an unsightly psychological disorder, or to contrive something more emollient: to finesse some sympathy and even heroism for the story’s troubled female lead. Read full review

Moira Macdonald

Oct 10, 2019

While Portman’s performance is skilled, she doesn’t have enough to work with — the character, as written, just isn’t there. Read full review

Peter Travers

Oct 4, 2019

It’s always a downer when talented artists pour everything they’ve got into a film that stubbornly refuses to come to life. That’s the case with Lucy in the Sky. Read full review

Richard Roeper

Oct 10, 2019

Lucy in the Sky is an irritatingly self-conscious, maddeningly rudderless and scatterbrained story that bounces all over the place and never finds an identity. Read full review

Alissa Wilkinson

Oct 10, 2019

Lucy in the Sky, distracted by its own flashy filmmaking, can’t center its gaze on one goal long enough to convey any of its interests well. Read full review

The Film Stage C.J. Prince

Oct 3, 2019

It’s around the halfway point when this film’s pointlessness begins to truly shine. Read full review

SEE ALL 36 REVIEWS

Write a Review

User Reviews

aurora1

Jan 15, 2021

Lucy in the Sky alerts the audience that the film is inspired by real events, but there is very little of those events in this movie, thankfully. On the one hand we have an astronaut, Lisa Nowak, whose career is paved by brilliant successes, she is the flagship of NASA and an example ofLucy in the Sky alerts the audience that the film is inspired by real events, but there is very little of those events in this movie, thankfully. On the one hand we have an astronaut, Lisa Nowak, whose career is paved by brilliant successes, she is the flagship of NASA and an example of female emancipation to look upon with admiration, until the tragic moment when she loses her mind because of a love affair and shows one side of her personality that is not quite edifying: she cheats on her husband with a colleague who is also married, then when he ditches her for another woman she tries to kidnap - and perhaps kill? - the new flame of her ex lover. A crime story mainly remembered for the embarrassing detail of the diapers used by the woman in order to drive without having to stop, during the 900 miles towards the destination of her criminal project. From hero to zero in the blink of an eye. On the other hand, the movie's protagonist is portrayed as a victim: of an almost exclusively male professional world and of a lover who does not treat her with respect and even jeopardizes her work. The astronaut depicted on the screen, played by a magnificent Natalie Portman, is a figure to look at with compassion, a bright star that inexorably collapses under our eyes piece by piece: initially splendid in her space suit, pathetic rag doll with a ridiculous blonde wig at the end, as she attempts to attack her ex boyfriend. In between, the dream of flying, shared by both the real and the imaginary protagonists, rendered on the screen with delicate and poetic touches by director Noah Hawley. A broken dream, which is powerfully symbolized by the scene of a cocoon from which emerges not a butterfly but a gruesome handful of flies. But there is more than space missions out there, and our heroine will end finding a purpose in the microcosm of a bee farm (and how similar to a spacesuit is the beekeeping suit!)… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Brent_Marchant

Oct 6, 2019

What starts out as a promising tale of personal discovery regrettably turns hard to believe, almost campy, in the second half. Despite the film's fact-based nature, its story line degenerates into an overwritten, overacted debacle that almost becomes laughable at times, the otherwise-fineWhat starts out as a promising tale of personal discovery regrettably turns hard to believe, almost campy, in the second half. Despite the film's fact-based nature, its story line degenerates into an overwritten, overacted debacle that almost becomes laughable at times, the otherwise-fine performance of Natalie Portman notwithstanding. Truly a missed opportunity to tell a story with some depth and meaning in an unlikely setting.… Expand

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

Filmreactiview

Oct 4, 2019

LUCY IN THE SKY Release October 4th, 2019

Audience REACTIONS at its World PREMIERE:

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

GreatMartin

Oct 15, 2019

Was it titled "Lucy In The Sky" just so a few lines of the Beatles' song could be sung? Maybe.

I hadn't been to a movie theatre for 11 days and though I watch movies on TV it isn't the same! My choices were "Jexi" which I would have liked to have seen but the schedule was wrong orWas it titled "Lucy In The Sky" just so a few lines of the Beatles' song could be sung? Maybe.

I hadn't been to a movie theatre for 11 days and though I watch movies on TV it isn't the same! My choices were "Jexi" which I would have liked to have seen but the schedule was wrong or "Joker"--NO WAY!---or "Lucy In The Sky". I like Natalie Portman when I see her but I usually don't go to a movie just because she is in it so off I went.

"Inspired by real events" the names have been changed---to use the title song?---and is based on a female astronaut attacking a lover who has been seeing another woman.

The picture starts off showing Lucy (Portman) in space, lost in thought and asking for just a few minutes more. After landing, and at the first opportunity, she signs up for another trip not comfortable on earth anymore with her husband (Dan Stevens). In a brief conversation they decide she will have another child after she returns from the next trip but she knows that will never happen and so the affair with Mark (Jon Hamm), another astronaut, starts. It is here the film goes completely off track.

Lucy looks, feels different, even states that she never felt so alive and instead of following why the change, what happens physically and mentally when you go into space, we get into the melodrama.

The script by Noah Hawley, who also directs, Brian C. Brown and Elliott DiGuiseppi misses the chance to approach a space movie from a different and interesting angle. Hawley's direction does many tricks with the camera to try and see Lucy's big world out in space and the small world she has returned to only making the screen annoying.

Natalie Portman does fine as does Dan Stevens and Jon Hamm but Ellen Burstyn is wasted, as is the title tune!

"Lucy In The Sky" is too long at 126 minutes to hold your interest but as your mind wanders what it could have been helps the time past.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

GrantD243

Oct 16, 2019

I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that astronauts can be changed and affected by their experiences in space. Physical changes are guaranteed, but mental changes are likely as well. Lucy in the Sky tries to capture this through its portrayal of Lisa Nowak's wild story. And in a coupleI don't think it's a surprise to anyone that astronauts can be changed and affected by their experiences in space. Physical changes are guaranteed, but mental changes are likely as well. Lucy in the Sky tries to capture this through its portrayal of Lisa Nowak's wild story. And in a couple of ways, it succeeds. Lucy's initial struggle to re-adjust to life on Earth and her longing to fill the emptiness that she feels inside is portrayed effectively. And this film does nail the visual aspect fairly well. The visuals when she gets lost in her thoughts make what could be a dull moment far more interesting, and there are some nice shots sprinkled throughout. The often-changing aspect ratio is a respectable attempt at helping us get a better idea of what's going on in Lucy's head, but...does it really help? No, it doesn't add anything of actual substance. If anything, it made me take my focus off of what was actually happening on the screen and instead watch the edges of the shot widen or narrow.

It's clear Noah Hawley got a bit lost at some point. I don't know if it was in the writing or editing process, but he found himself focusing too much on trying to portray meaning through visual aspects and on-the-nose metaphors, and less on telling the story well. The timeline also gets extremely crunched in the third act, and the addition of her niece to the story was such an odd decision. She serves no purpose, at all. In fact, she actually made the story worse. Incredible.

This film already wasn't heading towards a standing ovation, but the third act fell so flat I darted out of my seat and out of the theater when the credits rolled.

Also...where was the diaper? That's like, I don't know, one of the main details that made this story outrageous and newsworthy in the beginning?… Expand

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

Mauro_Lanari

Jun 18, 2021

(Mauro Lanari)
In 1877 Tolstoy wrote that "this whole world of ours is only a speck of mildew sprung up on a tiny planet" ("Anna Karenina", IV, VII). Unbelievable but true, such a consideration never required references to real facts of the 2000s and even less to the experience of a NASA(Mauro Lanari)
In 1877 Tolstoy wrote that "this whole world of ours is only a speck of mildew sprung up on a tiny planet" ("Anna Karenina", IV, VII). Unbelievable but true, such a consideration never required references to real facts of the 2000s and even less to the experience of a NASA astronaut. "It's cortisol, oxytocin, dopamine. It's a trick. It's like believing in God." Cool.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Cortez12

Oct 5, 2019

This movie was GARBAGE. A REAL PIECE OF **** HOW DARE THEY WASTE OUR TIME WITH DIS FILTH

2 of 4 users found this helpful22

SEE ALL 12 REVIEWS