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Stargazer Review
Image Credit: Freestyle Digital Media
Loading...Stargazer Review
Kate Ginna– Grace Campbell
Matt Bogart– Spike Randall
Lei Nico– Diana de la Palma
Lauren Rejent– Helen
Cymere Nobles– Dev
Annette Gordon-Reed– As herself
(check out the rest of the cast here)
Directed by Alan McIntyre
Screenplay by Rob Ackerman and Kate Ginna
Distributed by Freestyle Digital Media
Not Rated
Runtime– 85 minutes
Stargazer will be available on all major digital Video On Demand platforms and DVD starting April 30th, 2024
Stargazer, directed by Alan McIntyre and available via all major digital Video On Demand platforms and DVD starting April 30th, 2024, is a very weird movie. At first, you think it’s going to be some sort of uplifting drama about a young woman hell bent on making the world aware of a forgotten female scientist who was screwed over by men. But after about twenty minutes you realize that Stargazer isn’t a drama but is actually more of a comedy (you could call it a “dramedy” but I’m not sure that’s the right term. It feels like something else). Stargazer also dips into the surreal every so often, which is fun but also kind of bizarre. Because what the heck is going on? Even if you don’t really know what’s going on, the cast of Stargazer is phenomenal and totally game for whatever the heck is going on and, as a result, you end up liking them and the movie. Stargazer is weird, funny fun.
Stargazer stars Kate Ginna as Grace Campbell, a science grad student super determined to make everyone in the world know about Cecilia Payne, a female astronomer that discovered the nature of the universe back in 1925 but had her discovery taken from her by men. We first see her walking the big city (I think it’s supposed to be Chicago but it could be New York City. The movie doesn’t really make it clear) to various magazines and other outlets and pitching her Cecilia Payne story and getting rejected at every turn. Grace is told repeatedly that Cecilia Payne’s story just isn’t interesting enough. Grace doesn’t give up and she eventually finds interest from journalist Spike Randall (Matt Bogart), and Spike starts using his journalistic contacts and experience to get Payne’s story out into the world. Grace also starts up a relationship with Spike.
So some time passes and Spike tells Grace that he’s managed to get Grace an interview on a talk show hosted by renowned academic Annette Gordon-Reed (she plays herself). Getting a spot on the AGR show is a big deal, but at the same time Grace is nervous about appearing on television to talk about Cecilia Payne’s story. Grace is a scientist, not a journalist or a TV performer. How the heck is she going to get through it? Grace is also upset by Spike’s repeated criticism of how Grace wants to tell Cecilia Payne’s story; Grace just wants to tell the story and emphasize the science and the outrage of how Payne was denied credit for her discovery, while Spike wants to spice up the Payne story and emphasize the “sex scandal” aspects of Payne’s story (sex sells more than science). What the heck is Grace going to do?
So Grace goes to the college library to think and prepare for the big interview (she has her friend Dev, played by Cymere Nobles, cover for her at her lab job while she prepares for the big interview). While in the library she loudly argues with Spike, which then leads to the other people in the library telling them both to stop being so loud (they also get a death stare from Helen the librarian, brilliantly played by Lauren Rejent). Grace also starts conversing with Diana de la Palma (Lei Nico), a dance student that overhears Grace’s contentious conversation with Spike and then tries to offer Grace advice on how to proceed with her Payne interview. This is where the movie starts getting weird.
Really, really weird.
I don’t want to say any more about the plot as I’m not entirely sure I can describe it accurately. I will say, though, that the rest of the movie is essentially one big extended conversation between Grace, Diana, and eventually Spike. Grace accidentally takes some drugs from Diana, which leads to Spike getting upset that Grace is high (she can’t be high during the interview). There’s also a section where Diana transports Grace and Spike into a forest where we see various interpretive dances that explain Grace’s anxiety, Payne’s story, and how history might be repeating itself.
How is history repeating itself? Diana thinks that Spike is trying to steal Payne’s story from Grace and take credit for “discovering it.” But is that what Spike is doing? Is history repeating itself right before Grace’s eyes?
There are moments in Stargazer where you’re not entirely sure if what you’re watching is really happening, meant to be a flashback, or is enhanced by whatever drug Grace took, especially when everyone is in the forest setting. It can be a bit off putting, mostly because these moments happen right when you think you have a firm grasp on what’s actually happening. But director McIntyre and the cast just push on through and keep going, and because you like the cast so much you’re willing to go along for the ride.
Stargazer wouldn’t work at all without the assembled main cast. They’re great on their own in their own ways, but when Grace, Diana, and Spike are together on screen there’s real magic. It’s insane how amazing Ginna, Nico, and Bogart are as a team.
Kate Ginna is perfect as Grace Campbell. She’s earnest and smart but she doesn’t have the necessary confidence to fully see through her advocacy for Payne’s story. Grace also can’t see how to frame Payne’s story in a way that would make it more interesting to people who aren’t scientists (both Diana and Spike try to tell Grace about this in their own ways). Ginna has a natural screen pleasantness that is infectious. You can’t help but like her, even if you get annoyed with her from time to time (and there are a few moments where this happened to me. Like when she accidentally took drugs in the library. Who just starts eating random gummi bears from a plastic bag?). And you also root for her to find a way to tell Payne’s story. Payne’s story is important. Ginna also does a nice job in the flashback scenes to 1925 where Ginna plays Payne.
Matt Bogart is superb as Spike, Grace’s journalist friend who might not have her best interests in mind. As soon as you meet Spike you’re not sure how to take him or if you should trust him. It’s cool and all that he wants to help Grace but does he really want to help Grace? What sort of ulterior motive does he have? He has to have one. I mean, look at his face! And what’s the deal with his willing to get naked in the library? Is he really dropping his pants to help Grace or is he doing it for some other reason? Bogart also does a great job in the flashback scenes where he plays multiple men who try to screw over Payne.
Lei Nico gives the weirdest performance in the movie as dancer Diana de la Palma. When she shows up in the story you’re not sure how she fits into what’s going on (there are also moments where you think, for the briefest of seconds, that maybe Diana isn’t real and could be a figment of Grace’s imagination). Is she a rival journalist looking to screw over Spike? She also seems to be trying to seduce Grace in the library. Is that part of her scheme? When you find out that Diana is a dancer and apparently specializes in ballet you’re still not sure how to take her. If she isn’t a rival journalist, is she trying to take Payne’s story and make a ballet out of it? Just what the heck is going on with her? But much like Ginna and Bogart, Nico has a magnetic screen presence that just jumps off the screen. Even if you have no idea what’s really going on with her you can’t take your eyes off of her. Just great stuff.
And then there’s Lauren Rejent, who plays Helen the librarian. I love Helen. I love how she at first seems like a pissed off background character who exists solely to tell Grace and anyone else talking loudly in the library to shut the hell up. As the movie progresses, though, you see that Helen is just an eccentric person trying to do her job. Helen makes doodles on little pads at her desk. She makes announcements that include off the wall factoids that have nothing to do with anything but are somehow incredibly fascinating. I want an entire movie about Helen, Helen’s day-to-day job in the library, her life outside of the library, her friends, and her family. Maybe Helen can be the focus of a potential Stargazer sequel, if no one wants to make a historical drama about Cecilia Payne’s life. I think a Helen movie would work and be a hit.
The movie’s soundtrack is filled with catchy songs that help add to the movie’s weird tone. The songs by singer Phoebe Krentz (I don’t think she does every song in the movie but I believe she does a good portion of them based on what I saw in the closing credits), will make you want an official soundtrack release at some point. Do some of the songs sound like “whiny female songs” that would blend in easily on a modern TV drama? Yes, but they’re all listenable, even if you don’t necessarily care for that kind of music (I’m generally not a fan but the songs work in Stargazer. They just do).
I liked Stargazer quite a bit. I’m not sure I fully grasp everything that happens in the movie, but the main cast is phenomenal and the comedic tone used throughout the movie makes it watchable and enjoyable for the most part. The movie is also 85 minutes, which is wonderful. 85 minutes is a perfect runtime for a movie like Stargazer.
See Stargazer. It’s weird, but it’s also funny and worth your time. See it, see it, see it. Stargzer will be available on all digital Video On Demand platforms and DVD starting April 30th, 2024.
So what do we have here?
Dead bodies: None.
Explosions: None.
Nudity?: Yes.
Doobage: A young woman riding the train and looking out the window at the big city, a “walking the city” montage, a big meeting, water drinking, multiple phone calls, science lab stuff with various liquids and whatnot, talk of a talk show, multiple day dreams and flashbacks, talking loudly in the library, more flashbacks, library dancing, pizza eating, potential attempted seduction, a car sex flashback (maybe), doodling, snack pie eating, a food announcement, a brief factoid about starfish for no reason whatsoever, a ballet interlude, dance practice, more water drinking, a big red laundry basket, accidental drug taking, mirror stuff, a bear with a baby flashback, popcorn eating, a dance interlude in a forest, talk of golden apples, public nudity, two of the oldest security guards in movie history, thesis rehearsal, a library that’s open until 3 A.M., an argument, a brief black and white interlude, talk of the WGA union, a breakup, a lesbian kiss.
Kim Richards? None.
Gratuitous: A song on the soundtrack called “If God is a woman she has some explaining to do,” a potential brief fellatio hand motion, talk of misogyny, sudden thunder on the soundtrack, big pretzel eating, “25 Year Old Woman Gets Screwed by Men,” Annette Gordon-Reed, an annoyed librarian, a woman dancing in the library stacks for some reason, a guy named Spike, science talk, a chipmunk doodle, hard nipples (you can’t not see them), a kissing flashback, drugs, talk of hydrogen atoms, public nudity, licorice, “butterflies have taste buds on their feet,” a factoid about bears, a lion metaphor, an on screen comeuppance that’s hilarious.
Best lines: “I need a water.” “She was always quite the athlete.” “What you’ve given us is an academic thesis, am I right?” “Have you ever read our magazine?” “The greatest forgotten woman in the history of science is not a story?” “Please give my love to your Mom.” “I hate you so much. I love you the most.” “I love you Grace Campbell! I love you Annette Gordon-Reed!” “Will you guys shut up? Anything for you, bud. Fuck you.” “Look, people care more about feelings than thoughts, Grace.” “I need this to be about science.” “Please don’t do that for Annette.” “He’s not a dick, okay?” “Grace, why does this matter?” “She is such a weirdo.” “Christ, Diana, how did you get there?” “You think I know how to touch people?” “This goddess sucks.” “Are you her?” “Are your’s guys mouths dry?” “How am I supposed to work if I’m high?” “You cannot be high.” “We can’t fudge our data!” “What the fuck is that?” “Can I be the goddess of love? Can I dance?” “I am bestowing.” “I need you to be naked. Greek and Roman athletes were always naked.” “You’re not going to see my penis.” “Can’t we just use our imaginations? That’s for amateurs.” “What can you do with a golden apple?” “Do you like how your story goes, Grace? Does it have a happy ending?” “Some of us want to fuck the man and some of us want to say fuck you to the man. What do you want to do? Both!” “What the hell is in those gummies?” “This woman is not your ally.” “I’m telling you, you’re going to do great. You’ve got this.”
