A Different Kind of Love Story

 

You hear about a 2 and a half hour movie set in outer space with lots of special effects and you expect it to be a complicated mess.  But, not "Project Hail Mary" starring the always reliable and super engaging Ryan Gosling.   This flick is as simple as you get.   Indeed, there's only about ten people in the cast.   And yes, there is a lot of confusing SFX.   But, at its heart and gore, this movie is a...

...story of love and friendship.  It doesn't get any more basic than that.

Okay, first for the crazy plot.   Gosling plays a middle school science teacher who suddenly wakes up from a coma in outer space.   You see the sun is dimming and will kill 2/3 of the Earth's population and it's all hands on deck to stop that.  And that includes Gosling and his middle school science lessons.

The teacher starts applying simple school experiments to solve the problem.  Naturally, this is all over my head and the heads of the rest of the audience.  But Gosling's winning manner makes it all unbelievably sensible.

And then he is visited by an alien who looks like a boulder with arms.  He is suitably named Rocky.  The bulk of the movie now moves into a two man...okay, one man and one rock...relationship of education, respect, and friendship.   It is truly the core of the movie and it sells it perfectly.  Never has am end-of-the-world cinema epic been so comfortable to watch.  Plus there are some callouts to other movies.   You hear the musical chords from "Close Encounters."  And, naturally, Rocky talks about his girlfriend...Adrian.  Duh.   

Finally something decent to see in this genre.  

LEN'S RATING:  Three-and-a-half stars.

Dinner last night:  Leftover lasagna.