Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Brooklynn There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

ccbo Time to think and reflect, time to ponder. Opportunity to reflect on the darkness of suffering hearts, feeling of misery and love slowly turning into madness - thats how it felt in smokey mountains, a classical greek tragedy, but with entangled stories!

POGO (PogoNeo) Interesting story. Beautiful shots of nature. A look at how the inland of US was build. Details in scenography. Real tensions between characters. Etc.Unfortunately this movie is just too good to be so good right down to its end. I simply breaks down in the finale. Sadly, there is this switch from high quality to a somewhat lower level of movie-making for the last 20 minutes or soAnd of course there is the problem of Bradley Cooper- the performer with capabilities adequate for TV chopping channel, who somehow became an successful actor. He plays the main male character, annoying the viewers with his presence. What a bummer this is

Troy Putland Serena was filmed when Silver Lining's Playbook was being aired, but didn't reached its audience until two years after. Set during the American depression, Serena (Lawrence), a feisty, headstrong woman, becomes the wife of bureaucratic timber- man, Pemberton (Cooper). They have dreams of living far away from their home town in North Carolina, but Pemberton's past threatens to destroy everything they're working for. Serena is rife with potential. The settings are beautiful, the costumes, hair and make-up are extraordinarily detailed. It's ruinous then, that its material isn't profound enough to interest us in the lead characters and their problems.

Rick-34 I feel like the ratings of this film are being dragged down by people comparing it to either (a) the book, or (b) the other films involving Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper: Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle. Mind you, I haven't read the book. And it's clearly a weak film compared to their prior work. But it's not awful. One reviewer compared it poorly to Manos-Hands of Fate. Now that's just ridiculous!The movie has several good aspects to it. The acting is good and the cinematography is strong. And it has weaker aspects: the writing is weak, and the story design is a huge train wreck. It feels like there was an original design to the story which was subtle and elaborate, and which the director failed to convey. It's worth watching to enjoy the actors, who are far, far better than this script deserves. And if you watch the DVD, you can hear some comments from the director, which illuminate or hint at where the problems may lie.