{movie} the astronaut farmer (2007)

To save his failing family farm, a NASA astronaut in training (Billy Bob Thornton) must shelve his dreams of intergalactic travel -- until he decides to build a homegrown rocket in his barn. Enduring the jeers of the local townspeople and the government's efforts to bring his grassroots space program to a screeching halt, he keeps his eyes on the skies, determined to realize his ambition of orbiting the Earth.

ireviewnetflix.com rating: *** A great little film, but with a disappointing ending. Aside from the Jay Leno interview, you don't really know that the world found out about his successful journey to space. I wanted to see J.K. Simmons humbled. It sometimes seems that Hollywood works to not be cliche (which Simmons being humbled would have been), but actually let's the audience down (as I was) by not being cliche. Sometimes being cliche works. Billy Bob Thornton's character was interesting and somewhat inspirational, I guess. I don't know, the movie was just all right. The best part was the line "If I was building a weapon of mass destruction, you wouldn't be able to find it." Classic movie line.