Ten years ago at the 73rd Golden Globes, The Martian, a science fiction film written by Drew Goddard based on a novel by Andy Weir, won Best Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical). The nomination and win confounded audiences then and today is used as an example of the general oddness of that particular award show. It wasn’t because The Martian isn’t funny; it’s got a sharp script and Matt Damon delivers as always. It just isn’t a comedy. Fast forward to 2026, Goddard has penned the latest adaptation of a Weir novel, Project Hail Mary. This time, instead of the bravura direction of Ridley Scott, it’s directed by duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller, a team known for spinning gold out of nothing. Their work on 21 Jump Street and The Lego Movie alone solidify them as comedy filmmaking geniuses. With Goddard plus Lord and Miller teaming up, and Ryan Gosling hot off of his funniest performance yet in Barbie, Project Hail Mary should be a slam dunk for Best Comedy at next year’s Golden Globes, right? Miraculously, no! This team has delivered a bonafide sci-fi epic with heart, stakes, and (yes) laughs.

Dr. Ryland Grace (Gosling) wakes up in a spaceship with no idea how or why he is there. As he navigates the ship, he starts to piece together that he is now the sole survivor of a mission to save Earth. The film hops back and forth between the present and the past in order to give exposition as Grace recalls it in the present. We cut from Gosling trying to solve logistical issues on a spaceship to Eva Stratt (Anatomy of a Fall’s Sandra Huller) showing up to his middle school teaching job to recruit him for that same mission. Lord and Miller make clever use of aspect ratio changes as we go from full frame IMAX shots in the ship to tighter ratios for everything on Earth. We learn that the sun is starting to dim due to a mysterious substance and Grace is tasked to discover what it is and how it can be stopped. Though these stakes seem appropriately adequate for the entire 2 and half hour runtime, the movie really gets going with the introduction of Rocky.

When Grace comes in contact with another ship lightyears away from Earth, he’s forced to engage with it head on, trading messages in bottles back and forth till he finally decides to have a face to face meeting. That’s when we meet Rocky, a faceless stone alien that walks like a spider performed spectacularly by James Ortiz. At this point, the film that has been mostly an existential crisis in space has now added a buddy comedy element. The two learn how to communicate with each other and quickly learn that they are on the exact same mission. Suddenly, we go from treating Rocky like he’s a cute alien to a full entity with a backstory. Nothing could have prepared me for how charming this film becomes. It’s like it’s gradually turning the temperature up and down so the audience adjusts with the film’s rhythm. Daniel Pemberton’s gorgeous score during Grace and Rocky’s first meeting is an inspired piece that felt like we were witnessing a live action adaptation of WALL-E.

Ryan Gosling is a movie star that can famously command the movie screen with very little talking (Drive being one of his defining roles). So for him to control a large portion of this film, speaking mostly to himself is a feat. Not many actors could keep a viewer engaged with constant monologuing of “uh oh, that’s not good”, but Gosling has the charisma to make it funny every time. The film only doubles the charm when James Ortiz’s voice gets added to Rocky via text to voice on Grace’s laptop. Rocky is puppeteered by Ortiz and a team of performers and the effect is nothing short of a miracle. He doesn’t have a face, yet exudes all the heart of a golden retriever seeing their owner’s car come down the driveway. Sandra Huller, who is such a nice face to see in a large Hollywood film, is so wonderfully dry. Every line is delivered like she knows she’s the funniest person in the room, but doesn’t have time to stay and hear everyone laugh.

The largest issue facing this film is how long it feels. At two and half hours, you’re already asking a lot of audiences and to add the fact that 80% of Project Hail Mary takes place inside spaceships makes the whole film feel a bit claustrophobic. It makes complete sense for the story they’re trying to tell, but there are definitely moments dragged and felt like they were repeating the same beat over and over again. It’s lovely seeing Ryan Gosling in a spacesuit, but the 4th time he walked down the hallway to Rocky’s ship, it felt like they could have figured out how to make Rocky mobile faster.

4 and ½ out of 5 stars.

Blockbusters like this are truly special. We don’t get served up something this good very often. Ryan Gosling opposite a cgi/practical hybrid rock puppet is a sight to behold. I haven’t seen a film hit highs like this since Edge of Tomorrow in 2014. Here’s hoping it has a better fate than a movie that had to change its title for the DVD release.