A new movie starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway, called Serenity , debuts in theaters on Friday, per Entertainment Weekly . The film, which was originally supposed to come out last October, was delayed until now by distributor Aviron Pictures for unknown reasons.
The film is set on a mysterious island, and stars McConaughey as a struggling boat captain and Iraq War vet. Forever looking for the one huge tuna in the sea that’s long been elusive, McConaughey’s character, Baker Dill, pines for his teen-aged son Patrick — from whom he’s long been estranged, and with whom he appears to have some type of unexplained psychic connection.
One day, Baker is visited by his ex-wife Karen (Anne Hathaway) who, in traditional film noir fashion, offers him $10 million to kill her current husband (Jason Clarke), and to make it look like a boating accident. So Baker must wrestle with the decision of whether to do so, and how it might lead him back to his son. Meanwhile, a salesman from a boating equipment manufacturer (Jeremy Strong) is trying to sell him a machine that will allow him to more easily capture the fish.
Spoilers follow.
The film’s twist ending reveals that the entire movie up to that point has taken place inside a video game, one which had been coded and created by Baker’s son, Patrick. Hiding out from his abusive stepfather, the son had originally created the game as a fishing adventure in which the object is to catch the big tuna, but his coding changes the premise. The purpose of the game is actually to find a way to kill the stepfather.
Furthermore, it turns out that McConaughey’s character actually died in Iraq, and that Patrick has made his late father the hero of the game. And once he finishes coding the game, Patrick gets up and kills his stepfather with a knife. At that moment, Baker, in the game, is killing the stepfather by throwing him in the water. The film ends inside the game, with Patrick and Baker tearfully reunited.
Spoilers end here.
Serenity is being released with little promotion, despite the presence of a couple of major movie stars. The first reviews appeared Thursday — and whether positive or negative — they have emphasized how nutty the film is.
The Atlantic called Serenity “a film that will make you question reality.” Indiewire called it “ A Simple Favor for dudes, except more insane.” And the Guardian described the film as “the year’s first gloriously bad movie.”
