Stacy Lambe | November 5, 2014 8:00 am

Opening in theaters and IMAX this weekend is Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated sci-fi epic, Interstellar, starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, and Jessica Chastain. The film, which has been shrouded in secrecy up in anticipation of now, tells the report of a team of astronauts tasked with finding a suitable home for humans as life on Earth quickly deteriorates. The ambitious project is Nolan’s own interpretation of 2001: Space Odyssey that both soars and fails in comparison to the Stanley Kubrick classic.

Because there are some of you who absolutely are going to see this film no matter what, we warn you that there are some spoilers in this report. Since we saw the film ahead of its release, we wanted share the five things you need to know about Interstellar before heading to theaters.

The McConaissance Hits a Speed Bump

McConaughey struck gold over the past two years. From Magic Mike to Right Detective and an Oscar in between, the actor has shed his rom com past and made a right A-list career. In his largest and most high profile role yet, the actor takes on territory that normally belongs to George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, or Sandra Bullock, who is his female counterpart (see The Blind Side to Gravity years). Yet, here, he feels a little disconnected as Cooper, a former NASA pilot turned farmer turned pilot of humanity’s only hope. Maybe it’s because of all the time relativity prattle or being trapped in a spaceship with Hathaway but he’s literally lost in space. It’s when he’s on the Earth that he’s best. McConaughey only comes alive when his feet are firmly on the ground. No matter what, it’s still fun to explore this new side of the actor’s career.

McConaughey revisits his past roles — the excellent, the terrible, and Tip Toes.

The Anne Hathaway Problem

There’s no escaping Hathaway. After a well-well-known campaign to Oscar glory, the actress became as unlikable as a Frito pie. There was something about her performance off screen that drew out the claws of even her most ardent fans. In Interstellar, she re-teams with Nolan, who first cast her as Selina Kyle aka the best thing about The Dark Knight Rises. In what felt like a moment of redemption turns out to be a one-dimensional missed opportunity. As Amelia Brand, the caretaker of a fleet of embryos meant to be fertilized and hatched into a plot B colony of humans, Hathaway has no real fire. She’s meant to ground our space journey with the one thing that’s constant: like. Yet, she’s never given a chance to really show it. Her presence doesn’t hurt the film but it’s a shame Nolan didn’t give her more to do.

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Tags: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Christopher Nolan, Jessica Chastain, Interstellar