There is a truly brilliant movie buried within the ponderousness and self-importance that weighs down "Interstellar." Director and co- writer Christopher Nolan has never disappointed with regard to stunning visuals and design -- give this guy a big budget, and he puts it all on screen in spectacular fashion. Unfortunately, he doesn't have as sure a hand with regard to audio quality. Whatever audio effects (or affectations) he goes for, not for the first time in a Nolan film, render some of the dialogue unintelligible. Given some the of more hackneyed and overwrought dialogue that is intelligible, maybe that's for the best. I wouldn't suggest watching "Interstellar" with the sound turned down because the parts with dialogue that drag would be interminable -- plus, we'd miss Hans Zimmer's terrific score -- but the first 30 minutes or so might be improved by the sound of silence.

For one thing, Matthew McConaughey's irritating, overly emotive, actorly performance is most painful in the film's early scenes. He gets better and less annoying as the film progresses, partly because the screenplay stops burdening his character ("Coop," for Cooper -- ugh) with carrying the burden of mankind's horrible mistakes in his drawling delivery. For the record, I don't dislike McConaughey as an actor generally -- he's done some fine work along with some inconsequential drivel -- but he chose here to embrace Coop's dourness and disappointment in a way that helps throw the film off- balance, while his down-home supposed lack of pretension just gets tiresome. I have little doubt that he delivered exactly what Nolan wanted, and what Nolan wanted is the real problem.

The rest of the cast fairs much better, though I do wonder how sick Michael Caine must have become at the mention of Dylan Thomas's name. There is a bit of what might be considered stunt casting involving a major Hollywood star who shows up for a pivotal development in our heroes' search for a habitable planet, but far from being distracting or beside-the-point, it helps make for the film's tensest, most gripping and emotionally resonant scenes. While there are other set-pieces that almost get to that level, the odd pacing and sheer weightiness of a film that takes gravity as its main topic ultimately makes this a frustrating watch, if only because it's so beautiful and has so many jumbled ideas that it's easy to imagine it being so much better than it is.