A movie starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper was made available through Video On Demand before it played theaters in the U.S. This might lead to two conclusions: 1. How the release model for Hollywood films is dramatically changing, or 2. How quickly superstars can drop from the stratosphere.
Neither is true. “Serena” is simply a one-off botch, signifying nothing about the value of VOD or its stars’ undiminished red-hotness.
The film, shot in 2012, is being dumped because it’s a major bummer, despite the cast. Based on a novel by Ron Rash, it has an outdated style and subject matter — the kind of project that might have worked in the 1930s, which is when the story is set. In fact the setting of the thing vaguely recalls “Come and Get It” (1936), a timber-baron drama with the ill-fated Frances Farmer’s best role.
We are in the logging country of North Carolina, where an ambitious young entrepreneur, George Pemberton (Cooper), stops felling trees long enough to fall instantly in love with the mysterious Serena (Lawrence). Once installed as his wife, she shares her own savvy about the timber industry with George’s workers, a habit that doesn’t sit too well with the rough-hewn lumberjacks.
Especially hostile is the foreman (David Dencik, from “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”), who apparently harbors more than just professional loyalty to his boss. Everything in the plot is written large and bold, as though borrowed from Greek tragedy: Death lurks in the woods, dismemberment leads to supernatural devotion, and a panther and Serena’s snake-killing hawk (what the hell?) take on near-mythological significance.
Those big, stark elements might have had some power on the page, but Danish director Susanne Bier doesn’t find a consistent tone to bring this thing to a simmer.
While the Czech Republic credibly stands in for the American setting, the actors can’t carry off the same sleight-of-hand. With the film’s straight-ahead melodramatic approach, Rhys Ifans is especially stranded, stuck with a ridiculous lumberman character who occupies a place somewhere between Robert Shaw in “Jaws” and Boo Radley.
Jennifer Lawrence has a distinctly secondary role and fails to make a Lady Macbeth out of it, while Bradley Cooper acts as though he’s in a secondary role, even though he’s got the lead. A few choppily-placed sex scenes manage to dissipate all memory of the terrific chemistry the two shared in “Silver Linings Playbook.” A movie that does that deserves to go straight to VOD.
“Serena” (one and a half stars)
A major bummer featuring red-hot Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, here relieved of their usual chemistry together. The story’s a Depression-era melodrama set in the timber industry, rendered with an outdated melodramatic approach that doesn’t work on any level.
Rating: R, for violence, subject matter
Showing: Guild 45th
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