150 Word Review: 'Project Hail Mary' (2026)
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Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller marry the relaxed silliness of their comedies, like 21 Jump Street and The Lego Movie, with sci-fi author Andy Weir’s bestseller Project Hail Mary, which, like his novel The Martian, also a Hollywood hit, is about a man, alone, far from home. The movie is a schmaltzy, 156-minute-long, SFX-heavy mishmash of past blockbusters (2001! E.T.!) anchored by goofy-gorgeous Ryan Gosling at the peak of his superstar powers. At times, Project Hail Mary reminded me of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, only funny. Those comparisons aren’t meant to diminish what is a genuinely fun time at the movies.
Sandra Hüller costars as the icy scientist leading the efforts to save the world from a dying sun. She is a perfect straight man to Gosling’s accidental hero, a former microbiologist-turned-high school teacher. It’s no spoiler to shout out Rocky, an adorable, scene-stealing alien spider-thing made out of rubble.
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To say this movie is a disaster would be underselling it, but I have to say, the one thing I thought as I emerged into the bright Windsor Terrace sun was, "An editor! My kingdom for an editor!"
Andy Weir is a lucky man- most science fiction writers don't get even one of their books adapted for the movies, let alone two- and in his lifetime... (Philip K. Dick and Robert Heinlein didn't get most of their best known work adapted until after they died).