Sexy fishing noir actually seemed to track, and seemed like a fun enough time.īut then, a week before the release, Polygon reporter Karen Han described it to me as “deranged.” “Arrest Steven Knight,” she added. If you watched only the trailer, you’d think you understand the basic premise: Matthew McConaughey is a fisherman on some tropical island who is approached by his ex-wife, Karen (played by Anne Hathaway), who’s willing to offer him $10 million if he will take her abusive, wealthy husband, Frank (Jason Clarke), out on his boat and dump him to feed the sharks. You don’t really need to read the tea leaves here: Serenity, a movie genuinely described by writer-director Steven Knight as a “sexy fishing noir,” was originally scheduled to come out in October and finally arrived in theaters this weekend.
The hope is that enough people will emerge from their post-holiday idleness and spend their money on a (probably terrible) movie and, with any luck, that studio can turn a marginal profit. January is typically the ceremonial dumping ground for films that studios wish to forget about. It’s rarely a good sign when a movie slated for release in October, a month annually populated by Best Picture contenders ( A Star Is Born) and box office phenomenons ( Venom), gets pushed all the way to January.
