One of the first R-rated movies I saw in a theater was Legends of the Fall, a big slice of epic ham that, coming hard on the heels of Interview with the Vampire and A River Runs Through It, helped a young Brad Pitt grab the crown of Sexiest Movie Star Alive. I was too young to have any real taste, so I probably enjoyed it — and really, it was enjoyable, even if it was also overripe and ridiculous. It was trying to be larger than life, and it sometimes succeeded, because it had Pitt’s magnetism to work with: He was playing a Montana rancher’s scion, named Tristan, who wrestled bears, seduced his sister-in-law, wore war paint while hunting Germans through World War I trenches, and galloped in slow motion across big-sky country with Fabio hair falling around his shoulders. And you know, he almost sold it.
I thought a lot about Legends of the Fall while watching Serena, a strange curiosity of a movie that’s airing on-demand and washing into a few theaters soon. That limited-release fate is a big part of what’s curious about it, since Serena features two of the world’s biggest movie stars, both of them in the midst of charmed professional runs that include two successful prior collaborations.
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