Serenity
Aviron Pictures | Release Date: January 25, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
37
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
13
Negative:
19
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJan 24, 2019
The spiritual angle in Serenity is just one of the many elements making this one of the most ambitious, one of the most challenging — and one of the most entertaining thrillers in recent years. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzJan 24, 2019
From its intense beginnings to its what-really-c’mon-no-reallllllly-c’mon mid-film twist to its defiantly and successfully sentimental finale, the new Matthew McConaughey vehicle is playing by its own demented rules. When it deigns to care about rules. Read full review
65
Vanity FairHillary BusisJan 28, 2019
It’s easy to make a bland exercise in deliberate mediocrity; it’s a lot harder for a filmmaker to swing for the fences and miss this spectacularly. That’s the sort of effort that separates a run-of-the-mill disappointment from a truly wonderful film fiasco. Read full review
65
The AtlanticDavid SimsJan 24, 2019
It’s one of those projects that initially seems hokey beyond repair but quickly evolves into something genuinely unique. Serenity may not make it onto many critics’ top-10 lists come the end of 2019. But it’s certain to be one of the more unforgettable viewing experiences of the year. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJan 25, 2019
Serenity is a peculiar, niche production with minimal mainstream appeal. It will find its greatest favor with those who value oddball movies that take chances (regardless of whether they work or don’t). Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrJan 24, 2019
A guilty pleasure that’s guiltier than most, a southern-fried potboiler that seems to be settling in as a camp remake of “Body Heat” before it turns itself inside out and becomes something else entirely. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshJan 25, 2019
The off-kilter, colorful, cartoonish fantasy of Serenity is just so odd and appealing that you want to spend time with the characters, aboard this ship, among the people of Plymouth in this crazy, upside-down world. Read full review
60
The GuardianCharles BramescoJan 24, 2019
The cinema calendar is chockablock with faulty efforts built around perfectly serviceable ideas, but realized without a modicum of distinction. Serenity offers the less-common inverse: a magnificently terrible idea, executed to perfection. Read full review
58
The Film StageDan MeccaJan 24, 2019
One can respect what Knight is trying at, while never fully buying into it. Despite the talent and the brazen originality, Serenity‘s reach exceeds its grasp. Read full review
58
IndieWireJude DryJan 24, 2019
The big reveal at the end of the second act is absurd enough to pump some adrenaline into the third act, but the movie drags on too long afterwards. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Jan 24, 2019
Though Serenity is blessed with a goofily enjoyable high concept, it doesn’t exploit it very effectively. You can make the viewers detectives themselves, allowing us to slowly unravel a mystery, or you can give up the charade early and just run with the premise you’ve opted not to conceal very carefully. There’s little sense in doing neither. Read full review
53
Paste MagazineOktay Ege Kozak Jan 31, 2019
I can imagine and understand it receiving all kinds of passionate feedback, from intensely negative to downright infuriated, but I doubt anyone will claim it is boring. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJan 24, 2019
Serenity isn’t just meant to surprise you — which it will — but to give you an emotional wallop — which it may or may not. It didn’t work for me: I was too hung up on the fanciness (and, in truth, ridiculousness) of the final half-hour to feel everything Knight wanted me to feel. Read full review
50
New York PostRob Bailey-MilladoJan 24, 2019
Writer-director Steven Knight mixes a tried-and-true James M. Cain formula with a clever digital gimmick worthy of Christopher Nolan, but some of his dialogue is overripe to the point of rot. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyJan 24, 2019
It wants to be trashy, pulpy fun that toys with your mind and your expectations. Sadly, it just ends up insulting both. Read full review
50
Original-CinKim HughesJan 24, 2019
Conceptually ambitious and sporadically entertaining but more often confusing and ultimately kind of dumb, Serenity must have seemed appealingly high-minded on the page. But the zigzagging new thriller lands with a thud despite a skilled cast and writer/director Steven Knight’s commendable desire to scribble outside the lines of conventional narrative. Read full review
50
The PlaylistKimber MyersJan 24, 2019
The oily slick of sin across the surface of this film isn’t what makes it wickedly fun; it’s the utter devotion to its bonkers twist, at once defying logic and good taste. Serenity knows it’s trash, but that’s not to say that it’s not entertaining trash. Read full review
42
ConsequenceAllison ShoemakerJan 25, 2019
Serenity is often stylish. It is never, ever dull. It is also deeply stupid. Read full review
40
EmpireIan FreerMar 1, 2019
Serenity is a genuine headscratcher, baffling on almost every level. Badly scripted, strangely acted and poorly pitched, there is so much to pick over it’s hard to know where to begin. Sometimes the best of bold intentions are just not enough. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreJan 25, 2019
The setting, the sexy tone, the cast and snippets of sharp dialogue tamped down my eye rolling through the film’s first half. McConaughey, who has more than his share of seaside tales, gives fair value in delivering salty lines. Read full review
38
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldJan 24, 2019
Let’s just say that things aren’t always what they seem, and that there is not enough popcorn in the world to make this particular twist go down. Read full review
38
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonJan 24, 2019
The fact that it’s a Razzie contender, of course, is no reason not to see it. In fact it could be an inducement — Razzie movies can be quite fun. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJan 24, 2019
The atmosphere in Serenity, by design, imparts a slightly uneasy and hermetic feeling. In Baker Dill, who sounds like a line of gourmet pickles, Knight has the makings of a compellingly messed-up antihero. That’s a start. If movies were all start, then this one might’ve worked. Read full review
36
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiJan 24, 2019
Serenity is a twist in search of a movie, a film noir in search of a purpose, and a great cast in search of better material. Read full review
30
The New YorkerAnthony LaneJan 28, 2019
Whatever they pay these movie stars to keep a straight face, it’s not enough. Read full review
30
Rolling StonePeter TraversJan 25, 2019
The batshit bonkers Serenity fails on every level, first as entertainment and then as a new-agey thumbsucker about a magical, mystical tour through the subconscious. Serenity finds new definitions of bad that almost make the damn thing worth watching for its magnificent flameout. Read full review
30
VarietyAndrew BarkerJan 24, 2019
Serenity sees a usually reliable screenwriter-turned-director take a bold swing and miss the mark completely, so intent on pulling the rug out from under you that he never notices you weren’t even standing on it. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyJan 24, 2019
Like a long fishing day without a bite, Serenity invites impatience rather than excited anticipation, and the eventual payoff provokes a big “huh?” Read full review
30
The New York TimesWesley MorrisJan 24, 2019
More than half the reason I went to see this movie is because I miss “Fool’s Gold,” too. But that movie is 11 years old. And the days of low-stakes thingamabobs with some stars and even a little bit of writing are gone. Instead of a caper with Kate Hudson, McConaughey has got a mess written and directed by Steven Knight. Read full review
30
Arizona RepublicRandy CordovaJan 24, 2019
When an inane ending appears out of nowhere and purports to add depth to a movie which has little? That's just maddening. And the twist in Serenity leaves you feeling both cheated and annoyed, which surely isn't the filmmaker's intention. Read full review
25
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireJan 25, 2019
Terrible and insane, and will surely end up being one of the worst films of 2019. But it’s also such a wildly ambitious roller coaster ride that it must be experienced, preferably with friends, to laugh together at its cheesy dialogue, over-the-top performances and multiple, major plot twists. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJan 24, 2019
Serenity is not just awful. It’s amazingly awful, which means that very few people will want to see it, but some probably will. People who can enjoy laughing at something made in dead earnest, who can appreciate, in a perverse way, a phenomenal, jaw-dropping mess, may find an experience close to pleasure in this strange, misbegotten, three-headed freak of a movie. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineJake ColeJan 24, 2019
The film’s twist ending exists only to retroactively justify writer-director Steven Knight’s feeble stylistic choices. Read full review
20
The TelegraphTim RobeyFeb 28, 2019
As trash pleasures go, Serenity’s too ploddingly stretched and lacking in plot curlicues to reach nirvana, but it’s capable of making a whole audience giggle at its wonderfully pretentious gracenotes. Read full review
20
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJan 24, 2019
There’s a way to make this kind of trashy noir work beautifully—was Wild Things director John McNaughton somehow not available?—but Serenity is too blandly generic to stick its snout in the muck and luxuriate, barring the occasional jail-baity line of dialogue from Hathaway (“You said I was finally old enough,” Karen whispers, reminiscing). Read full review
20
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesJan 24, 2019
A spectacular misfire – is a 180 from Locke’s lean brilliance, overstuffed with plot complications, overheated with bad acting and maudlin sentiment. Read full review
12
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJan 24, 2019
The twist is, yes, audacious, even daring. It’s full of risk and defiance of expectation. So half a star for that. Steven Knight, you’ve got some nerve. But none of those things mean that the movie works. Read full review
0
ObserverRex ReedJan 25, 2019
The new year is not even a month old, but a hunk of junk called Serenity already qualifies as the worst film of 2019. Both moronically written and directed with shocking, amateurish ineptitude by Stephen Knight. Read full review
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