Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper filmed Serena between their other two mutual film appearances – Silver Linings Playbook, for which Lawrence won an Academy Award, and American Hustle, which was nominated for a bucketload of Oscars. While these other films saw both box office and critical success, not even the sizzling chemistry between Hollywood’s latest dream team can salvage this trite and dire screenplay.
George Pemberton (Cooper) is a timber baron in 1920s North Carolina. When he meets Serena (Lawrence, in all her Jean Harlow-styled glory), also from a timber farming background, the couple fall madly in love. While some of George’s workers are sceptical of this union, the new boss-lady soon proves herself by training an eagle to catch snakes that have been terrorising the workers. Once Serena becomes pregnant, it seems like their world is complete. But soon their dream scenario begins to crumble, with the remainder of the film focusing on the inexorable string of misfortune that ultimately brings them undone.
Having not read Ron Rash’s 2008 novel on which the film is based, it’s hard to know whether the gaping holes in the narrative are a result of the screenplay or the source material. Given that the book spent time on the New York Times Best Seller list, however, my money is on the screenplay. Explanations for many of the main plot points are completely omitted or only touched on briefly, which makes understanding the actions and reactions of the characters involved rather problematic. Such lapses snowball to the point where the relatively solemn circumstances portrayed are almost, if not completely, laughable.
The only purpose fit for this mess of stereotypes would involve a bingo-style drinking game in which you take a drink every time Serena fulfils another movie cliché. Guaranteed, you’ll be drunk by minute 56 of this disappointing 110-minute shambles.
2/5 stars
Serena is in cinemas now.
