Bait and Switch Rom-Com set in Outer Space

Rating: 3/10 (5 February 2017)

What a year 2016 was for cinema and particularly fans of Sci-Fi and not for the better! Indeed, Passengers was just the last in line of a list of proclaimed sci-fi films which were nothing of the sort.
You see, Passengers is not a sci-fi film, it is a romantic comedy set on a spaceship. If that doesn't make sense, consider this: does a film about relationships along with some comedy necessarily make a romantic comedy? I think not. Romantic Comedy is a well defined genre along the lines of boy meets girl, love at first sight, boy does stupid, breakup, both suffer, boy does grandstanding, get her back, live happily ever after.
That's Passengers. Literally.
What do you put in a review about a sci-fi film which is really a romantic comedy? I am not sure, do you judge it as a romantic comedy? As a sci-fi? Passengers is not alone in this regard, Hollywood seems to recently believe that genre-bending sci-fi is some great idea. Perhaps they think that they can drop clues to both Mr. and Mrs. in the trailers and get both to go to the cinema instead of just one of them. If so, it doesn't work when you make a trailer which signals sci-fi but is really rom-com. That old salesman tactic is called Bait and Switch and we don't like it.
It looks good. First 10-15 minutes is OK. That's it. Why I gave 4 stars as it is not completely boring. Actually I take it back, I give it 3 stars, because Jennifer Lawrence (who got paid twice co-lead) has a horrible vocal fry and that is just awful, vocal fry is awful, girls better to go with Valley Speak if you want an annoying way of speaking.
In addition the violent attack Jlaw does on Pratt, including punches to the face is just unacceptable. In addition, if you wanted to make a smart movie perhaps let JLaw wake up and be faced with the difficult question Pratt has in this movie. Instead we get boy bad, girl good.
Hollywood seemingly for profit ideas or feminist ideology seems to want to ruin Sci-Fi. Don't let them. Don't watch this movie.