Why did critics praise that movie ?

Rating: 3/10 (22 February 2014)

I didn't have high expectations about this movie. Two actors in a production relying on special effects - nothing really hard to work with. So I presumed the movie received good critics due to the acting and the plot.
NOT.
I was disappointed in so many ways about that movie, I have a hard time articulate it in a text. So here's a list.
1 - Clooney is basically playing himself. Which is not believable for an astronaut's personality.
2 - Same goes for Bullock's role. A woman of science, constantly whining about thing of the past that make no sense and whose life is saved two times by the man. Yeah, that was not really inspiring.
3- I'm a physicist. For the sake of the plot, I understand the need to put all satellites on the same orbital. But for the rest... COME ON. Action would have been as good without all those realism holes + I wouldn't have had the feeling that the main core of the movie was butched.
4- This movie was made for 3D. It's so badly exploited, I felt it was in 2D. They did a better job in Shrek.
5- Characters, dialogues, motives. Very weak.
The premises were so promising... too bad that movie made me feel like the producers were like kids finding an excuse to do something with CGI in space.