Serena 2014

Wesley Morris, Grantland: Absolutely nothing works. No one seems to understand the place or the people. And the only thing gleaned from the lumber industry is that you can build an entire movie from performances made of wood. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: The choppily edited and thoroughly wooden "Serena'' fails to catch fire, even when everything literally goes up in flames. Basically, it's "Cold Mountain" without Renee Zellweger. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Into each life some rain eventually falls, and in a bomb called Serena, golden couple Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, united for the third time onscreen, arrive soaking wet. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: Filmed in 2012 and finally limping into theaters like a glamorous zombie, the movie has star wattage but zero emotional voltage. Read more

Guy Lodge, Variety: Bier's Danish-language work, usually structurally and emotionally cohesive to a fault, has rarely been this compellingly untidy. Read more

Vadim Rizov, AV Club: There's simply not that much to see in the performances. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: It's reassuring, really, to be reminded that top-tier Hollywood stars can make lousy choices just like the rest of us. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Given these unpromising circumstances, I was expecting something truly awful, and perhaps that might have been more fun to watch than this lugubrious period piece. The production values and the costumes are the true stars. Read more

Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly: Ah, well. All the best actors eventually get their Ishtar, right? Read more

Stephen Dalton, Hollywood Reporter: Serena only has one key flaw: it is difficult to believe a single word of it, still less to care about these relentlessly selfish and short-sighted characters. Read more

Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times: The performers are as beautiful to look at here as they are intriguing to watch. Read more

Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News: The film is haunted by a sense that something was overlooked in translation from the book. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: Both actors, gracefully dressed and lightly anguished, draw deep on their professional aplomb in a bid to keep a straight face; the credible, bulked-up pain that Cooper brought to "American Sniper" seems a world away. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Lawrence is the hottest actress in Hollywood and she and Cooper share six Oscar nominations, and one win, between them. But "Serena" uses muscles the costars of "Silver Linings Playbook" and "American Hustle" stars don't often get to flex. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: The actors don't just look uncomfortable in their period duds, they also look uneasy in their own skins, which is a feat for two such natural, physically confident screen performers. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: What were Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence thinking? Seriously? Read more

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: In other words, a lot of people realized they had an epic clunker on their hands. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Left for dead since 2012, Serena would better serve its stars by burial, not resurrection. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Funny how there are fans of Jennifer Lawrence who will never see her in "Serena." It's not her best film, but it contains one of her best performances, in a role that challenges her more than any other. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Although the film got stuck in editing limbo for two years, no amount of cutting could rid the project of a diseased premise. Nor is it erotic or violent enough to be an effective critique of human nature. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Globe and Mail: One of those movies that proves that the mere presence of all the right ingredients does not a happy meal make. It's all in the mixing. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: A Depression-era potboiler starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence that never manages to get past the feeling of a calculated Hollywood reunion. Read more

Inkoo Kang, TheWrap: Densely packed and gorgeously expressionist, the old-fashioned tragedy is very nearly a satisfying experience despite its various shortcomings. Read more

Cath Clarke, Time Out: We don't invest anything in either character, and with barely any tension, 'Serena' grabs neither head nor heart. Read more

Serena Donadoni, Village Voice: By making Serena ornamental, Bier diminishes her power, and Lawrence plays her as a petulant Lady Macbeth wannabe. Worse is Bradley Cooper, whose Pemberton comes off like an entitled scion, not a clear-cut timber king. Read more

Charlie Lyne, New York Magazine/Vulture: This is a film full of unremarkable compromises - the kind that result in a bland film rather than a bad one. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: It's painful to watch all that talent get wasted. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Beating a dead horse barely begins to describe the task of writing about "Serena"; it's more like playing coroner. Read more