I did not know this was a comedy going in, I thought it was going to be in the same vein as The Martian so tonally I was ambushed. Two things held me back in this movie: One is the tiresome trope of the disgraced/loser/renegade/loner guy who turns out to be the only one who can save the world. The other is I guess the equally tiresome trope of the alien creature that learns english in 5 mins and is immediately cracking jokes and acting like a wisecracking Disney sidekick. I get why people find it funny and heartwarming but for alien encounters Arrival is more my speed.
My wish for the sequel is blast Gosling and his pet dog out the airlock and put Sandra Hüller in charge.