There would be a lot less bad movies in the world if the names involved in creating a project were always guaranteed to deliver something worthy of the accolades they’d racked up over the course of their respective careers. On the other hand, if that were the case, we wouldn’t end up with such stupendously bad curios as 2019’s Serenity.
Written and directed by Academy Award-nominated Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, the cast saw Oscar-winning duo Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey take top billing amongst an ensemble that also boasted three-time Golden Globe nominee Diane Lane, two-time Oscar nominee Djimon Honsou, future Golden Globe and Emmy victor Jeremy Strong, and the ever-reliable Jason Clarke.
Throw in the widely popular psychological murder mystery genre into the mix, and there were a handful of reasons to get excited about Serenity. Or at least there was, until the self-indulgent slab of nonsense proved to be one of the most unintentionally hilarious films in recent memory, one that imploded at the box office, got torn apart by critics, and landed its central duo Worst Actor and Worst Actress nods at the Razzies.
You think what you’re watching is a fairly straightforward tale of an ex-wife begging her former spouse to be saved from her abusive new husband, but when the twist hits, everything changes. Not for the better, either, because it’s definitely up there as one of the worst of all-time, which makes us wonder how streaming subscribers will be reacting to having Serenity turned upside down in the third act now that FlixPatrol has revealed it as one of the top-viewed flicks on ViaPlay.