Just OK

Rating: 4/10 (16 November 2014)

In case checking the box didn't do the trick, please be aware this review CONTAINS SPOILERS and you should stop reading here if you haven't seen the movie.
Providing some vertical space to hide the spoilers.
More vertical space.
OK, here goes.
There are generally two types of science-fiction movies. The first category, by far the more common, consists basically of soap operas set in space, and the science is incidental, with no promise of accuracy.
Real-science movies comprise the second category, and they are rare. "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "The Andromeda Strain" come to mind. They also tend to be much better than movies in the first category.
"Interstellar" attempts to bridge the gap, but its soap-operatic histrionics (and over-the-top clanging, banging score) overwhelm what science there is. The science is basic concepts of relativity that the characters recite as if their colleagues had never studied physics.
But alas, the plot holes are a black hole unto themselves. Here are a few off the top of my head:
1. When you're sucked toward a black hole, tidal forces would obliterate you, your spacecraft, and anything else. Nothing can survive a descent toward a black hole.
2. Why don't the astronauts map the surface of these planets before descending to them? They'd see that Planet Mann is an icy death zone and the other planet is all water with huge waves.
3. Exactly how is time relativistically slowed to a ratio of one hour to seven years on a planet with only 130% of Earth's gravity?
4. The cute robots don't have the right physical design for effective maneuvering. A robot should not look like a Rubik's Cube. Nor should it have a video display that looks like a DOS batch file. I preferred the "Lost in Space" robot circa 1969: "Warning, Dr. Smith!"
5. In binary code, the few lines of sand on the floor would communicate only a tiny amount of information, not enough for the word STAY. (And Morse code transmits enough information to instruct the planet on how to unify gravity with the other three elemental forces? But I'm willing to suspend disbelief for that one.)
6. How does Cooper manage to communicate anything into his daughter's room?
I'm sure others have proposed other lapses.
I liked "Gravity" better. I also liked "Contact" better. In the latter, science and human drama blended; here the two are jarring in their juxtaposition.