Passengers (2016)

You’re supposed to swoon at Passengers, and then the movie makes one choice about a sleeping pod early on that turns its space romance into something a lot creepier. It still wants the swoon. That’s the whole problem, and no amount of starlight fixes it. Chris Pratt is likable doing his usual thing, wandering a luxury ship in a hoodie and chatting with a robot bartender. Michael Sheen’s Arthur is the best thing on board, polite and slightly off, like a hotel concierge who lives inside a glitch. Jennifer Lawrence gets one legit scary scene, a swim that goes very wrong when the gravity cuts out. Everything else is shiny hallways and slow dancing. Critics gave it 30% on Rotten Tomatoes, while IMDb voters land on a 7.0, so plenty of people just enjoyed the view. A 4.6 because it looks expensive and never wrestles with its own big question. $154 says you spend the ride home arguing about what you’d do alone on that ship, and your answer gets worse every mile.

What works: The sleek ship design, Michael Sheen’s unsettling android bartender, and a genuinely tense zero-gravity pool scene.

What doesn’t: The film builds its romance on a deeply troubling choice and then rushes past it instead of dealing with it.

Who it’s for: People who want a good-looking space movie for a lazy night and don’t plan to think hard about the ethics.