There are plenty of negative things to say about See You On Venus. For example, a tired use of the manic pixie, a lack of understanding of abandonment issues, or the fact that there is no real emotional connection between the audience and the film. However, we are assuming that the scriptwriters were aware of these issues, but the brief must not have demanded something high-effort or out of the box. In that case, we don’t see a point in criticizing the film. For the hour and a half of its runtime, it does a decent job of what it must: not make us change the channel. It remains the kind of movie that doesn’t demand all your attention, and you can look at your phone while keeping up with what’s going on on-screen. Here is a recap of See You On Venus.
Spoiler Alert
Why Do Mia And Kyle Go To Spain?
Kyle suffered a major setback in life when he got into an accident with two of his friends, Noah and Josh, a few months ago. Josh will never be able to walk again, and Noah passed away at that time. Since then, Kyle has been dealing with his survivor’s guilt. It doesn’t help that he was the one driving the car at the time of the accident, and he doesn’t remember the exact sequence of events that caused the disaster to happen. This is why he has been distant at home and is not committing to the scholarship that he has earned. One day, when he is about to jump off a cliff, he runs into Mia, who “cutely” threatens him that if he jumps, she will too.
An annoyed Kyle goes back home, only to find that the next day, Mia has shown up at his house and wants him to accompany her to Spain, and his parents are completely on board with the idea. They like it because they want Kyle to have a change of scenery. That night, Kyle’s dad tells him that he should quit hiding from the world and start living his life. Kyle also wants to give things a chance and shake himself out of his slumber, so he agrees to go to Spain with Mia. We start realizing at this point that this is not their love story as much as it is Mia’s story. While a connection between Mia and Kyle has been established, as in Noah was Mia’s best friend, and he is the one who passed away in that accident. Mia recognizes Kyle, and she genuinely wanted to save him when she saw what he was about to do. But we don’t understand how she was crazy enough to take a stranger with her to Spain. She booked that van a year earlier due to foresight, over-preparedness, or whatever we call it, but she couldn’t learn to drive in that year? She is not too bright, and we are not too fond of her.
Mia is in Spain to find her birth mother, and she has ten candidates that she has narrowed down and needs to check out. Mia has indeed had a tough life due to being shifted from one foster home to another and has had generally unstable relationships. We understand why she may have wanted to find her mother, because the thought of what could have been if she had just lived with one person, is unavoidable. We don’t mind the plot of her needing to look for her mother, but we hated that instead of trying to understand the psychology behind abandonment issues, See You On Venus tried to show as if love is the solution to all. On the other hand, this movie is not supposed to be that deep, so this surface-level addressal may be fine after all.
As Kyle road trips through Spain with Mia, the two of them start coming closer, and he even warms up to her. Admittedly, the scene when they had just landed, and Mia was trying to talk to Kyle while he sat there in stony silence, was uncomfortable, but we simply don’t feel bad for Mia there. It is silly and fantastical to expect a stranger to be as invested in her search as she herself was. But just sometimes, you need a little bit of crazy to shake you up from your grieving slumber, and that seems to have worked for Kyle, who is a lot more present and is actually enjoying himself for once. The fundamental topic of discussion between them is that Kyle is depressed and has come close to giving up on life due to the tragedy, whereas Mia wants to live and make others live. We may hate her for her manic pixie qualities, but it takes strength to love life despite the hardships it throws at you, and Mia is undeniably strong, despite her vulnerabilities and fear that yet another person might leave her.
Does Mia Get Heart Surgery?
Mia was born with a heart defect, and she doesn’t have long to live. She was scheduled for surgery that week, and her foster mother had arranged everything for it, but Mia had chosen to leave it all behind and come to Spain instead. The success rate for the surgery was just 50%, and Mia did not want to take the chance that she might die before meeting her mother. When none of her shortlisted candidates turns out to be her mother, she is understandably heartbroken, but Kyle figures out that there must have been a typo in the way they understood Mia’s mother’s name from her signature on the birth certificate. Knowing that, he figured out where Mia’s real mother was. But the complication now is whether Mia should get her heart surgery or go looking for her mother.
As expected, Kyle and Mia are at opposite ends of the spectrum with their opinions. But just then, Kyle remembers what happened on the day of the accident. His friend, Josh, had distracted him with a video, which had caused him to lose control. Kyle finally understands that it was not his fault, but he also realizes that it wasn’t Josh’s fault either. He sees why it is important to know some things to solve the knots in one’s heart. That is why he decides to take Mia to meet her mom. See You On Venus‘s ending, Kyle and Mia sneak out of the hospital and go to meet her mom. We wish we had a glimpse of the conversation that followed the reunion. Regardless, Kyle then takes Mia to some place where they dance and confess their love for each other, right before Mia needs to be wheeled in for emergency surgery. Luckily, Mia survives, and back in their town, both of them are going strong with their relationship, and Kyle is able to visit Noah’s grave as a friend, without any guilt.
Final Thoughts
See You On Venus is not a bad movie. It is simple and suitable for a lazy day. The characters are not exactly remarkable, but they don’t irritate or anger you too much, either. None of their actions would fly in a sane world, but we are not looking for excellent content quality here, to begin with. This means that See You On Venus can be watched, though it may not be recommended.
