At one point, in Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s Project Hail Mary, someone asks if they know when a hug ends. “You just know,” comes the response from Dr Ryland Grace, a scientist from earth, trying to devise a way to save the Sun. After the film, my first thought was if Lord and Miller’s film knew when to stop mollycoddling its audience. Why else would a competent film adapted from a bestselling novel of the same name by renowned author Andy Weir, starring an immensely watchable Ryan Gosling (playing Ryland Grace), triggering laughs and tears feel almost immediately forgettable after leaving the theatre? A film can be ‘good’ by any number of metrics, but it’s a certain degree of serendipity galvanising good films, elevating them into an authentic and a moving experience. Even the tears in Project Hail Mary feel like the result of a large assembly line, which is never a good sign. Such films are agonising to write about because they’re well-made films, nicely-acted too; most of it is in place. But there’s still a gnawing feeling of what more it could have been. Invariably, I found myself comparing Project Hail Mary with The Martian (2015) – the last Andy Weir novel to be adapted for the big screen by Ridley Scott, starring Matt Damon. Scott’s film had the light feet found in Weir’s text, also delivering splendidly on the thrills and a strong emotional quotient. Scott’s film might have felt more fast-paced for how the action keeps cutting from the stranded astronaut in Mars, Mark Watney (Damon), and an ensemble of characters – who come together to brainstorm about Watney’s unlikely rescue. Over here, the action is primarily between Dr Ryland Grace and a crab-like creature named Rocky. A native of a planet called Eridian, home to a technologically-evolved alien species, even they are feeling the consequences of their dimming sun. Grace is 11 light years away in space near a planet called Tau Ceti, the only remaining star not being devoured by something called Astrophage. The man and the alien have to work together to save their respective planets, determining a way to communicate, which slowly turns into a transformative friendship.Gosling, usually a riot in buddy comedies (The Nice Guys, The Big Short), feels surprisingly staid here. As Grace, Gosling oversells the unheroicness of his character, who, at first, refuses to be a part of the mission. But he does so while looking like his heroic self (with spectacles) in other films – sparking a dissonance. Compare this to Damon’s performance, which takes place in front of a computer screen too, and Gosling’s deadpan humour looks more belaboured than it ever has. Meanwhile, Rocky (voiced by James Ortiz) has well-defined humanistic traits — he speaks broken English (fist my bump, or it’s a time-go) meant to be cute in the most Spielberg way, [like “E.T go home”].A still from ‘Project Hail Mary.’Cinematographer Grieg Fraser takes charge when the makers simulate the atmosphere of the Tau Ceti. The tangibleness of deep space reminded me of Hoyte Van Hoytema’s work in Interstellar (2014), where he approximated the experience of a spaceship travelling through a wormhole and then a blackhole, aided (even elevated) by Zimmer’s outstanding score. Daniel Pemberton’s score is more serviceable for Fraser’s tactile visuals of outer space, otherwise being content with accompanying Lord and Miller’s playful tone through the rest of the film. I’d term this as an offspring of Spielbergian sentimentality and Marvel’s grating vanity passing off as self-awareness. While space operas like Interstellar and Arrival (2016) are closer to having the cosmic wonder and silences of Kubrick, Project Hail Mary qualifies as a mid-Spielberg venture, never transcending its form. In a scene, where Grace bids adieu to deceased crewmates, who he doesn’t remember, I was reminded of Robert Pattinson-starrer, High Life, directed by Claire Denis, which had a similar scene, without the protagonist feeling the need to perform for a camera watching him. In a film almost too painfully sincere, the silver lining are the flashbacks starring Sandra Huller, who plays the stoic Dr Stratt – the head of the project behind sending Grace to Tau Ceti. At the bottom of the barrel, Stratt fishes out Grace from his middle-school classroom, hoping to glean his ability amidst all that self-doubt. Project Hail Mary works in all the expected ways, but lingers in none of them. It’s polished, earnest, and intermittently engaging – but too calculated to feel truly alive. In sanding down its edges to reach everyone, it forfeits the specificity that might have made it unforgettable. We could’ve had a lobster risotto based on Weir’s novel – but Lord and Miller are content serving boxed sushi from the supermarket. Except for Huller’s performance, where the character usually forced to maintain a brave face, allows herself to be vulnerable during a karaoke performance. And the way she delivers the film’s coldest line: “You might see this as betrayal, but you’ll realise it is my belief in you.” Among the most logic-driven people, Stratt chooses faith and instinct. It’s in these two moments that Lord and Miller’s film becomes the gourmet meal it was meant to be. *Project Hail Mary is playing in theatres