SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
There is an expression in Hollywood to describe a film meant purely for enjoyment. It's called a popcorn picture. Whether moviegoers bought popcorn when they went to see "Project Hail Mary" this weekend, we don't know, but 85% of those who answered exit polls said they would recommend the film to a friend. And more importantly, critic Bob Mondello says he would, too.
BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: Our hero awakes with a start...
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RYAN GOSLING: (As Ryland Grace, gasping).
MONDELLO: ...Hair and beard long enough to suggest he's Rip Van Winkle, but surrounded by technology.
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Please state your name.
GOSLING: (As Ryland Grace) Ryland Grace. I just woke up from a coma. I'm several light years from my apartment. And I'm not an astronaut.
MONDELLO: This is ringing a bell. He's said this before...
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GOSLING: (As Ryland Grace) I'm not an astronaut.
MONDELLO: ...To a room full of scientists.
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SANDRA HULLER: (As Eva Stratt) If you don't go, you die with the rest of us.
MONDELLO: Ah, yes, the team that came to his classroom with news he already knew...
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HULLER: (As Eva Stratt) The sun is dying.
MONDELLO: ...And something that didn't make sense.
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HULLER: (As Eva Stratt) You're the only scientist who might know what this is.
GOSLING: (As Ryland Grace) I'm just a teacher at Grover Cleveland Middle.
HULLER: (As Eva Stratt) You have a doctorate in molecular biology. I need you to come with us.
MONDELLO: Then that room full of scientists...
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HULLER: (As Eva Stratt) The sun is not the only star dying. Every star was infected by its neighbor, except one.
GOSLING: (As Ryland Grace) Why?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As characters) We don't know.
HULLER: (As Eva Stratt) Which is why we build a ship to go there and find out.
MONDELLO: He realizes they're all looking at him.
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GOSLING: (As Ryland Grace) I put the not in astronaut. I've never done anything. I've never done a space - I can't even moonwalk.
MONDELLO: And yet here he is, light years from home, approaching a star that is not dying with an enviable lightness of spirit, considering the extinction-level event driving him. But then, how could he not? He is played by Ryan Gosling, supported by the writers of the solo adventure "The Martian" and directed by the folks who came up with the "Spider-Verse" flicks. Lightness of spirit...
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Object approaching.
MONDELLO: ...Is kind of their thing.
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GOSLING: (As Ryland Grace) Oh, my God.
MONDELLO: Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller have clearly seen, as has their not-an-astronaut astronaut, enough alien encounter movies to be able to marshal the appropriate mix of wonder and film references, when it turns out Earth isn't the only civilization to send an expedition.
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GOSLING: (As Ryland Grace) So I met an alien. He's kind of growing on me. At least he's not growing in me.
MONDELLO: This alien looks like a pile of rocks, and once Grace gives it a name and gets his computer to give it a voice, Rocky turns out to be a pile of rocks with a flinty sense of humor - also no sense of boundaries. He moves right in.
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JAMES ORTIZ: (As Rocky) Hi, Grace.
GOSLING: (As Ryland Grace) You're in a ball.
ORTIZ: (As Rocky) So Rocky no die in Grace atmosphere. I come up.
GOSLING: (As Ryland Grace) Oh, you're coming up.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Foreign body detected.
ORTIZ: (As Rocky) Amaze, amaze, amaze. Rocky want to see human technology.
MONDELLO: Working together to save their respective planets, they come up with some nifty theories but also run into what you might call roommate issues.
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GOSLING: (As Ryland Grace, whispering) He has incredible hearing. He can see through walls. Personal space is at a premium.
ORTIZ: (As Rocky) Who is Grace talking to? Question.
GOSLING: (As Ryland Grace, whispering) There's no way you can hear me right now.
ORTIZ: (As Rocky) Can hear. Who are you talking to?
GOSLING: (As Ryland Grace, whispering) You can hear this?
ORTIZ: (As Rocky) Yes. Grace say, you can hear this?
GOSLING: (As Ryland Grace, whispering) What about this?
ORTIZ: (As Rocky) Yes.
GOSLING: (As Ryland Grace, whispering) Oh, my God. Look at this. Look how far away he is. That is where he is.
ORTIZ: (As Rocky) Hello, Grace.
GOSLING: (As Ryland Grace) He's right here.
ORTIZ: (As Rocky) Hello, Grace, friend.
MONDELLO: "Project Hail Mary" is not just a lark. As in Andy Weir's bestseller, the science in its science fiction is hard science, which is to say comparatively plausible. Nobody's pulling out lightsabers. And the stakes onscreen are as stellar as the production value.
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GOSLING: (As Ryland Grace) This ship wasn't built for this.
MONDELLO: The filmmakers haven't stinted on anything.
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GOSLING: (As Ryland Grace) Now.
MONDELLO: The film looks terrific, packs considerable emotion and zips along, with talk of centrifuges and astrophage - literally star eaters - that you needn't follow all that closely because the secret weapon in "Project Hail Mary" is star power, the kind that Ryan Gosling has, of course; the kind that keeps the Earth warm; the kind that sci-fi movies stoke when they really catch fire. I'm Bob Mondello.
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HARRY STYLES: (Singing) Just stop your crying. It's a sign of the times. We got to get away from here. We got to get away from here. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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