In this very peculiar film, the NASA program to send a man to Mars appears from an unexpected angle - as a comedy of positions.
The main character (Harland Williams) is the developer of a unique navigation system, a computer genius, who since childhood walked in space, as a simulator he used his parents' washing machine - a bladder-eared man-catastrophe, the American version of Mr. Bean with all his grimaces and grimaces.
In all situations not associated with an increased risk to life and computer codes, he behaves like a molded idiot.
Before the launch of the project “Pilgrim” to Mars is a month, and the simulations each time end in failure: the landing trajectory crept error.
The chief of flights and two astronauts go to the computer scientist in the office to understand, according to the results of the conversation, the crew member responsible for the functioning of the onboard computer is taken away in plaster.
The chief of flights, the bureaucrat of the old leaven, decides to replace him with our hero, whose social and professional skills are approximately comparable to that of another irreplaceable member of the expedition, the chimpanzee Ulysses, trained to pull samples from the rocks of the Red Planet that are difficult for humans to access.
In addition to numerous “gags”, the bulk of which is built on human physiology and funny head blows, which is characteristic of comedies of this kind, the film is very interesting from the point of view of everyday writing. The viewer has the opportunity to walk along the corridors of NASA, learn what astronauts drink after hours (something blazing like rocket duzes); how pre-launch training is carried out - from an insulation chamber to a centrifuge, from mindfulness tests to breath-holding training in case of life support systems failure (going ahead - all this experience will be very useful for the hero on arrival on Mars).
Rocket Man, the character of Elton John’s cult song, has inspired more than one generation of filmmakers (like the classic quote from The Rock or the dramatic ending of one of the seasons of Califrenia), but he has never been such an idiot.
And the closer Mars is, the bigger the mess created on the screen by the protagonist. Here he drops a commemorative medal in the toilet, presented by the most positive of the MCC employees (then at one time managed to disrupt the Apollo 13 mission, and now he had such a dubious chance to rehabilitate). Trying to get a medal, and he almost sucked into the toilet. But in direct communication with the president, the hero from excess of feelings begins to sing the traditional American spiritual "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands." The whole world is singing.
He's inimitable. He compares the Earth to blueberries and risks derailing a $40 billion project every minute. When immersed in hypersone, his place is taken by a monkey, and he himself is forced to have fun all eight months of the flight with wall paintings, growing a beard and eating food stocks.
Without misunderstandings can not do even the first step of man on the surface of the red planet. The hero falls from the ladder to the commander, who has already started a speech about a poor boy from Ohio, and gets into the headlines of all the newspapers as a result of his sacramental “It’s not me!”
Having lost the flag, the hero replaces it with his own star-striped boxers, which almost brings the president to the blow.
And on Mars, meanwhile, a dust storm is gaining strength, overlooked by stretchy meteorologists. Our hero finally seems to be a great chance to prove, first of all, to himself, and even to the commander who had time to hate him and the pretty astronaut zoologist (who has already liked his vocal experiments), and to the whole world, with excitement frozen in front of TVs - who is he, after all? Really an idiot? Or a pretty slob, who only lacked motivation - not lost and not grazing even where experienced astronauts begin to get nervous and mistaken. Man of misunderstanding. A man of genius. Rocket Man.