'Project Hail Mary' is somehow overhyped and underrated

Downtown at the Fox theatre played 'Project Hail Mary,' a science fiction film focusing on the charming friendship between a science teacher and an extraterrestrial as they save mankind. 
The film is an adaptation of Andy Weir's novel, directed by Christopher Miller and Phil Lord. Ryan Gosling plays Ryland Grace, a witty and bizarrely intelligent science teacher and former scientist who wakes up in space with no recollection of himself or why he’s there. 
Throughout the film, he slowly gains his memory back while also trying to understand a substance called Astrophage, which blocks the sun’s light from its surrounding planets, and it would result in a freezing ice age. The pressure is solely on Grace to find a ‘Hail Mary’ for humanity, that is, until he meets another wanderer in space, a faceless extraterrestrial with a spider-shaped body made of rock.
The flashbacks start with him being approached by the government on a thesis paper he wrote during his scientist years, arguing that life can survive without water. They explain Earth has 30 years before it loses half its population, and total crop failure would lead to mass starvation. They need to travel to the planet Tau Ceti, the one planet unaffected by Astrophage, which takes 13 light-years.
They first enlist him to work for ‘Project Hail Mary' to study Astrophage and how to destroy it, while he bonds with the head of the space sector, Eva Stratt. After the main scientist who was supposed to go on the trip died in an accidental explosion, Stratt forces Grace to go on this suicide mission, aboard the Hail Mary space ship, he's now the only qualified person to do it, and he has no family, making him the ‘perfect’ candidate.
Grace is not an experienced astronaut, which is emphasized several times when he is approached by the idea, as he's running from the guards before he’s forced on the ship, and as he jerks his spaceship in jig-jag motions uncontrollably. It was a standout part of the movie because audiences are so used to self-serious series such as Star Trek, which show space travel in the coolest possible light.
In the present, Grace befriends the alien and names him Rocky, who is surprisingly just as intelligent as Grace. They learn how to communicate pretty fast, connect over their shared loneliness, hang out in Grace's ship, and work to save their home planets from Astrophage. Grace’s ship is on the way to a planet that is not affected by the Astrophage because there’s a substance there, Taumoeba, that eats it.
They go through a near-death journey to get a sample of it so they can reproduce it and bring it to both their planets. After getting the sample, they both depart after an emotional goodbye, Rocky giving Grace more fuel for his journey home, making it's own journey home slower.
On the way to Earth, Grace realizes that Rocky won’t be able to make it home because the sample they harvested grew destroyed material and Astrophage fuel on Rocky’s ship, and was going to destroy it.

Grace's ultimate character growth is when he willingly chooses not to go back to Earth to save Rocky, a sacrifice he previously would’ve been too scared to do. They make the trek back to Rocky's home planet, Erid, with the Taumoeba. They sent samples back to Earth alone, where in 13 years, an older, greying Pratt would receive them and the messages from Grace with a smile and a command to her people to “begin” saving the world.
The end of the film was delightful. Grace and Rocky are on planet Erid, living their own lives as formerly isolated creatures, together. Grace ends up becoming a school teacher again for the children there. Somehow, the aliens in Erid created a biodome called “Grace Space” where he can freely go to the Earth-like ocean shore outside his beach house with specially synthesized food. Yes, unrealistic, but this is what we came here for.
The character development from Grace is seen through a sacrifice to save Rocky, when, in the beginning, he was too scared to make the sacrifice of a suicide mission. Stratt’s character, while making cold decisions like sending Grace up to space to die, is shown in a few instances to be a deeply terrified person, aware of the stakes and the weight of humanity’s future on this mission. It was most notable in the scene when she sang ‘Sign of the Times’ by Harry Styles at a night outing with Grace and the other scientists, looking scared, seemingly admitting to not knowing the fate of their future.
Connecting with Rocky’s character in the beginning relied a bit on how Grace interacted with it, as Gosling can have chemistry with a brick wall. Rocky’s character’s translated automated voice was a little hard to get used to because it’s not particularly cute. However, it did have heartwarming traits like being a little clingy and would adorably misinterpret human lingo. Rocky becomes very lovable, someone you want to root for quite quickly.
Gosling’s character, Grace, had a couple of quirky lines that went flat; he went overboard on the jokes and rambling when he was in front of the scientists. Another awkward part of the film was when Pratt sang ‘Sign of the Times’ because it went on for a minute too long.
The themes of the film jumped around from science-heavy at first, then it switched to a comedic, heartwarming theme after Grace and Rocky met.  
"Project Hail Mary" has a few hiccups with jokes that didn't land, awkward moments, and pacing in between the present and the flashbacks. 
The criticism of the movie is largely about a lack of explanation of the logistics and unrealistic survival, but overexplaining can muddy the waters of this already high-concept story.
One review by Serena Seghedoni from the site Loud and Clear emphasizes that there are parts of the movie that stray too far from the plot, making the film disjointed. Overall, the film ranks at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, and has grossed $510 million dollars worldwide, making it Amazon MGM’s most successful film.
The critics think it is just okay, and the general audience loves it. The main point of the plot was to make you feel good and have hope, and in an era in film where everyone is trying to reflect the grittiest versions of life, there becomes a desire to display our versions of happiness and collective optimism.