Adam Sandler Hugging a Giant Spider in ‘Spaceman’ Is the Weirdest Movie Moment of 2024 So Far

Adam Sandler tenderly hugging a giant spider while floating in zero gravity in space was not on my 2024 movie bingo card. But that’s exactly what happens at the emotional climax of Netflix’s Spaceman, a new sci-fi drama that began streaming today. I realize it’s only March, but this scene is in the running for the strangest film moment of year.

Directed by Johan Renck and written by Colby Day—who adapted the script from the 2017 novel Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfař—Spaceman tells the story of Jakub Procházka (Sandler), an astronaut on a year-long solo mission in space to collect special space dust on the edges of the galaxy. Though he is in regular contact with his mission control handler, Peter (Kunal Nayyar), back on Earth, Jakub spends most of his days in total silence, completely alone. His pregnant wife Lenka (Carey Mulligan) has stopped taking his calls. He’s not sleeping well. Then, one day, a giant spider appears on Jakub’s ship and starts talking to him, in a slow, dreamy voice courtesy of Paul Dano.

This spider is almost certainly a figment of Jakub’s imagination. It doesn’t show up on the life scanners. It can seemingly read Jakub’s mind to access his memories. And it’s entire purpose seems to be forcing Jakub to process and rectify his self-inflicted loneliness.

Though he’s at first disturbed by this terrifying indication that he’s losing his mind, Jakub soon gives in to the spider’s offer of companionship. He names the spider Hanuš, after a clockmaker at the center of a Czech legend. He begins to enjoy his chats with the spider and opens up about his troubled marriage and difficult childhood. Hanuš doesn’t say much about himself in return; only that he’s from “the beginning,” and that he fled his planet when a mysterious group called the Gorompeds attacked.

Eventually, Hanuš grows frustrated with Jakub’s refusal to admit he was wrong to abandon his pregnant wife back on Earth. He informs Jakub he’ll let the astronaut finish his mission alone, because “my interest in you has expired.” Damn, that’s cold Hanuš.

Jakub, distraught, finally pushes himself to make amends with Lenka. And lo behold, once he does that, Hanuš returns. But something’s wrong—his breathing his heavy and labored. Hanuš admits to Jakub that though he escaped his planet when the Gorompeds attacked, he didn’t leave soon enough. The giant spider is dying.

It’s at this point that Sandler reaches out to his eight-legged friend, in a wordless request for a hug. Hanuš had previously said he didn’t like being touched, but it’s clear Jakub needs the comfort. “Hanuš, please,” Jakub pleads.

Hanuš dutifully floats into Jakub’s outstretched arms. Human and spider come together like a strange recreation of Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam. Then the two beings share a long, tender embrace. Like the rest of Spaceman, the moment is treated by director Johan Renck with absolute and total sincerity. There is no trace of humor; this is deadly serious stuff. We see this hug from multiple angles, while the relentless, melodramatic score from composer Max Richter swells. Yet I could not for the life of me take this scene as seriously as it’s clearly meant to be taken.

I know it’s supposed to be sweet, and in a way it is. But it’s also ridiculous. Because, well, that’s Adam Sandler! Hugging a giant spider! In space! It’s especially hard to ignore the absurdity when Renck cuts to the shot from behind Sandler’s back, and you see those eight legs (plus one antenna) gripping Sandler’s body. The hug stretches on for over a minute (for over a minute!), including a cut to a shot of Hanuš tenderly stroking a young Jakub’s face.

I can already imagine this scene being taken out of context on Twitter and TikTok, as Twitter and TikTok love to do. That’s why I’m confident making an early call to declare this the weirdest movie moment of 2024. At the very least, it’s in the running.