Sharksign

I was watching Serenity, belief nicely suspended, when without warning Kaylee (Jewel Staite) dropped such an utter clunker of a line that she seemed to cringe, reminding me of the moment in Dune when someone (Stilgar I think) proclaims 'he has summoned a big one'. This strikes me as a kind of 'jumping the shark' moment for movies. I don't think this is a problem with the dialogue or even the acting. Delivering those portentous lines requires fine judgement and when they don't work, the director should toss them out with due prejudice. Try reciting the famous quote from Blade Runner:  'I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser Gate...' See how clunky it sounds? It takes genius to speak a line like that, and being a genius doesn't guarantee that it works out. Hauer delivered the goods for Blade Runner. Not that Kaylee's line was portentous. Actually, it was about a dildo and for the record, I think Staite is superb. Fortunately, Serenity recovered and turned out to be pretty good. My only complaint was that - dildo line excepted - it lacked the earthy grit of Firefly, which is odd and a shame.