Natalie Portman and Jon Hamm star in a scene from the movie "Lucy in the Sky." The Catholic News Service classification is A-III -- adults. (CNS/Fox)

By Catholic News Service

Loosely based on a real-life love triangle involving astronauts, this drama attempts to portray how the experience of outer space has a way of altering earthbound judgments.

Natalie Portman plays a robotics specialist who, bored of her affectionate but dull husband (Dan Stevens), embarks on an affair with a colleague (Jon Hamm). When her deft organizational skills decay into obsessive behavior, he diverts his amorous attentions to another spacewoman (Zazie Beetz) with drastic results for the psyche of his abandoned mistress.

The plot lacks a cogent explanation for how lengthy stays in orbit corrode personalities — other than by creating tremendous emotions that can’t be replicated later. And the protagonist’s romantic dilemma is the stuff of many a Lifetime movie. Though her iron will is attractive, her bad decisions remain difficult to understand.

A couple of scenes of implied adulterous activity, fleeting rough and crass language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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