While it’s nearly unheard of for everybody to love any movie, the praise for Project Hail Mary has seemed to be as close to universal as most films ever get. Fans and critics are in rare agreement with the movie’s Rotten Tomatoes scores from audiences and critics being within a point of each other, and both being in the high 90% range.
And yet, as stated, not everybody likes every movie. There will always be those who don’t care about a popular film, and while I’m usually more than happy to let people have their opinions, I have to say some of the people who say they didn’t like Project Hail Mary do seem to be reaching. A recent thread on Reddit asked fans to list some of the “worst” criticisms of the movie, and some of the claims are wild. Comments include:
- No shit, there was a dude on here last week saying he hated it for being "blatant Catholic propaganda" because the ship was called Hail Mary. It was certainly one of the takes of all time. - IAMAHigherConductor
- That it wasn’t religious! True! Some people in the Philippines went to watch the movie last week thinking it was a religious movie about the Virgin Mary in time for the Holy Week observance this week. - iPLAYiRULE
- My friend, after the movie was finished: "Didn't enjoy it at all, too much fiction. Interstellar is way better..." Because falling into a black hole and becoming a time-traveling ghost was very realistic... smh... - Willy2277
- 'Ryan Gosling is a terrible choice for a sci fi lead. He's not serious enough.' .... I have to imagine the only other Ryan Gosling movie they've seen is Barbie, 'cause what. - sharkees
- The couple walking out of the theater in front of us were complaining about how funny it was...??!! I heard one of them say, "what the hell, they made it a comedy!" Time-Fix-5852
I’m not going to lie, I love the fact that two of the popular responses on the thread are different people upset at the level of religious promotion in the movie, with some feeling there was too much, and others feeling there wasn’t enough. Although it has to be said that anybody going to see the movie based solely on the title and expecting a certain sort of movie based on that should probably do more research before going to the theater.
A not insignificant number of complaints clearly come from people who know Andy Weir’s book well and are disappointed by the movie as an adaptation. Many were clearly hoping for more science in their science fiction and were disappointed that the movie cut some of that. I can at least understand that criticism. I’ve certainly had favorite books turned into movies where I was disappointed in some of the adaptation choices, even if I thought the film was good overall.
That said, I feel like anybody who felt Project Hail Mary was a “comedy” was clearly watching a different movie. While there is humor, most of it is gallows humor from characters who are far from certain they’ll survive.
I’m also going to call foul with the idea that Ryan Gosling isn’t serious enough for a serious science fiction movie. While he certainly has made his share of comedies and light-hearted films, anybody who knows Gosling’s work knows he is perfectly capable of serious acting. Two of his three Oscar nominations were for very serious dramas.
I’m not saying there are not legitimate reasons to not love Project Hail Mary, but I’m not sure any of these actually qualify.
