What is everybody going on about? This was a great movie

Rating: 9/10 (28 December 2016)

Maybe it's because I came into the theater expecting to see pretty much what the movie ended up delivering, but I really liked this movie, in spite of not being a fan of sony after the string of crap they've put out the last couple of years (the smurfs, the interview, ghostbusters and whatnot).
The movie was drenched in cynicism about the cult of corporations, and automation taking over our lives. We are more and more serviced by machines and are completely on our own with no help from our fellow humans if something goes wrong, I thought this story, beyond the usual romantic comedy formula (complete with the reveal of the false pretense and the guy having to re-earn the girl's love by redeeming himself) was a nice echo to that fact. Seeing that I saw the movie in a theater that was near-fully automated, it was almost poetic.
The acting was fine, even jennifer lawrence's, the ship design was great, the world that was hinted at beyond the story seemed to be interesting.. The movie hit a good balance between characters and action (even if maybe it could have used a bit more urgency in the second act).. In summary, as with several movies I've seen recently, I wonder if I saw the same movie that everyone seems to hate? I really had a good time and don't understand the ratings nor the critics, although everyone is of course entitled to their opinion. All I ask from a movie is escapism, and that it makes sense from beginning to end, and it delivered, much more than the endless treadmill of 'comic book movies with 1 hour of city destruction in the middle for no reason at all'
If you expect a pratt/lawrence vehicle that's mostly a romantic dramedy with some scifi backdrop and a cynical view of our modern corporate life (think weyland-yutani in aliens) then don't miss out on this movie, I think you'll have a good time as I did. Between Arrival, Rogue one and Passengers, this has been a very enjoyable xmas holiday in the theaters