Have you seen those car commercials where Matthew McConaughey whispers pseudo-philosophical nonsense that has little to do with cars?

It’s a hilariously ostentatious ad campaign that, in a weird way, ends up being likeable.

Christopher Nolan’s latest film, “Interstellar,” has a similar appeal. Nolan probably thought he was making a spacefaring tour de force along the lines of “2001,” and while he doesn’t quite get there, it’s commendable how he just sort of goes for it.

In a situation that we can only hope happens in real life, McConaughey has to save the human race when drastic food shortages set the egg timer on our ability to live on Earth.

Honestly, who else could do it?

Anyway, he, Anne Hathaway and a wise-cracking robot sidekick travel through a wormhole in a goofy rotating spaceship in order to find another world that our species can inhabit and ruin all over again.

The movie’s deadly serious tone is consistent with Nolan’s other work, but the premise of exploring exotic alien worlds with a snarky robot feels straight out of an old TV show.

It feels like Nolan just did not care how silly it sounded on paper — this is his masterpiece, and he’ll do whatever he wants with it.

For a great deal of the film’s three hour runtime, Nolan is really onto something.

No matter how flat the dialogue is, or how little sense the science makes, there’s a childlike sense of awe toward the expansive mysteries of outer space.

Yes, it’s kind of funny when McConaughey starts talking about how love transcends space and time, but isn’t that kind of sincerity commendable?

As someone who gets starry-eyed at the prospect of space travel, “Interstellar” taps into my desire to know what waits for us out there in the great unknown.

This is helped by the visuals, which are the most impressive part of the film.

The back third in particular has some downright enthralling scenery that looks unlike anything else in recent Hollywood science fiction.

The performances are fine as well, considering the somewhat spotty script.

McConaughey is really good at whispering things that sound vaguely insightful, and Hathaway is as natural as ever.

“Interstellar” will be too silly for some and too grandiose for others.

However, with a horrible pun entirely intended, it reaches for the stars — though it doesn’t get there.

3/5 stars