Ryan Gosling’s latest film, “Project Hail Mary,” opened in theaters Friday, March 20, following a promotional campaign that included a digitally altered video of the actor throwing a football through the donut hole of the Randy’s Donuts sign in Los Angeles. Whereas the stunt garnered significant attention and even some online mockery of Gosling’s throwing form, it also sparked a conversation about the actor’s sustained success and the reception of the film itself.
The film, adapted from Andy Weir’s 2021 novel, centers on Ryland Grace, a teacher with a doctorate in molecular biology, tasked with saving Earth from a dying sun. Critics have offered mixed reviews, with some praising the film’s ambition and the central relationship between Gosling’s character and an alien named Rocky, while others found the blend of science and comedy uneven.
“It’s the most smoothly engineered crowd-pleaser I’ve seen in a minute, and I don’t mean that entirely as a compliment,” said film critic Justin Chang, in a conversation about the movie. “All I could see, was that engineering. It’s a science-fiction comedy in which the science and the comedy…don’t feed each other so much as cancel each other out.” Chang noted the film’s occasional humor and the “nicely bickersome rapport” between Gosling and the character of Rocky, brought to life by puppeteer and voice actor James Ortiz.
Chang drew a comparison to Ridley Scott’s 2015 adaptation of Weir’s previous novel, “The Martian,” suggesting that Scott more effectively integrated comedy into the narrative. “Scott used comedy to grease the narrative wheels. here, the laughs tend to gum up the works,” he stated. Despite these criticisms, Chang acknowledged the heartwarming nature of the “interspecies buddy comedy” genre, referencing films like “E.T.” and the “Guardians of the Galaxy” series.
A particularly strong element of “Project Hail Mary,” according to Chang, is the performance of Sandra Hüller, who plays the government official who recruits Grace for the mission. “Hüller has a marvellously dry wit, at once playful and no-nonsense, that you miss whenever she’s not onscreen,” he said. “It’s wonderful to see a big Hollywood production make use of her gifts.”
Despite reservations about the film’s overall execution, Chang affirmed Gosling’s talent as an actor, citing his function in films like “Half Nelson,” “Blue Valentine,” and “Drive.” He suggested that Gosling may not be at his best in “Project Hail Mary,” and that he may have been directed to overplay the comedic aspects of the role. “At times, he seems to be playing for obvious laughs in a way that he didn’t in, say, ‘The Nice Guys’ or even in ‘Barbie’,” Chang observed.
The promotional campaign for “Project Hail Mary” included a Super Bowl advertisement featuring Gosling’s attempt to throw the football through the Randy’s Donuts sign. The ad quickly drew attention online, not for the film itself, but for the perceived awkwardness of Gosling’s throwing motion, as noted by Coed magazine. The stunt, however, was revealed to be digitally enhanced.
Gosling’s next scheduled project is “The Fall Guy,” set for release later this year, which involves performing stunts.
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