Will absolutely do my best to review the film on its own merits, but after finishing the audiobook only two days ago, that sure is a tough task. To first tackle what the film adaptation does right there are a lot of wonderful technical moments, particularly in the lighting department. While on Earth the film is indistinguishable from any run of the mill Amazon MGM picture, when you're on the Hail Mary or seeing the exterior shots next to the Blip A or Adrian it's really phenomenal. The lighting in particular is such a clear standout in the film and constantly doing wonders. I also really appreciate the charisma of Ryan Gosling in the film, yes a lot of Gosling-isms slip through and the cracks and differ greatly from the Ryland Grace found in the novel, but who else can sell a friendship with a rock puppet as well as him?

Onto the not so great parts, I think really the entire supporting cast that isn't Grace or Rocky is hugely underwhelming. As a huge fan of how Stratt's character is written in the novel, it really didn't seem like Hüller was up to the task, or maybe it's on Drew Goddard for missing so much of what makes her character cold and domineering. Beyond her, I imagine anybody unfamiliar with the story couldn't tell you three things about any other supporting character, really disappointing on that front. In addition, for this lengthy two and a half hour runtime I can't help but wonder where the time went. So many story beats are either entirely cut or simplified to great extent, and what do we get to make up for it? Stratt doing karaoke or Grace talking to the camera to explain exactly what's going on? I'd easily take a longer version of this film but I don't trust that the editor or writer would do anything meaningful with that added time.

I feel like I'm being so harsh but it's because I was so hooked into the novelization. While it's a perfectly serviceable film with lots of laughs and pretty visuals, it really doesn't feel like it fully captures the emotionality or complexity of what is such a great story. If nothing else, I'm interested to see where the consensus on the film lands after such unbelievable hype.