Director: David O. Russell
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jackie Weaver, Chris Tucker, Anupam Kher, John Ortiz,
Julia Stiles
Rating: B+
Silver Linings Playbook is a quirky, odd, and eccentric film. The off-the–beaten-track feel of the movie is the charm of this lovely romantic comedy – a surprisingly entertaining love story is also an adorable film that will delight audiences this holiday season.
Pat (Bradley Cooper) seems normal enough, but it turns out he has spent the last 8 months in a mental institution as a plea bargain for attacking his wife’s lover. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Pat is on several medications to control his mood swings while he tries to rebuild his life. Dolores (Jackie Weaver), Pat’s well meaning mother, brings her son home to live with her and Pat Sr. (Robert De Niro). The hope of Pat’s parents is that they will be able to help their son recover and have a stable life. The parents are far from normal and are barely able to function on all cylinders themselves, but it turns out that the dysfunctional threesome actually have a very deep love for one another that binds the family together. We get insight into life inside the home of a family that has all sorts of crazy going on and that adds to the enjoyment of the film.
Pat is determined to win back his wife Nikki (Brea Bee) by proving to her that he has new found wisdom and can now think positive by finding the silver lining in every situation. He seeks out the advice of his friend Ronnie (John Oritz), who is busy dealing with his overbearing wife Veronica (Julia Stiles). One evening at dinner, Pat meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), Veronica’s younger sister. Tiffany is an equally nutty person trying to deal with the grief of losing her husband. What forms between Pat and Tiffany is an unusual friendship as the two try to help each other resolve their emotional issues. Pat enlists Tiffany’s help to win back Nikki. In exchange for her help, Tiffany places the condition on Pat that he must partner with her in a dance competition. Challenging each other every step of the way as they plot to win back Nikki and win the dance competition, Pat and Tiffany unknowingly start building a bond between them that will later lead to discovering things about themselves as well as each other.
Cooper and Lawrence do an awesome job as the leads in the film and could have easily carried the whole story without any other actors involved. Lawrence, an actress to keep a close eye on, gives a warm, funny, and extremely heartfelt performance in Silver Linings Playbook. Cooper has some wonderful scenes in which he shows off his character’s manic and desperate behavior. Something else to mention is the great chemistry between the main stars that makes the interaction and relationship between Pat and Tiffany very believable. De Niro gives a cute and touching performance as Pat Sr. and Weaver is perfectly cast as the mom with the big heart. Ortiz gets some great screen time as the stressed out husband dealing with a controlling wife, and Stiles delivers a cool performance as the demanding spouse getting her husband to jump at the snap of her fingers.
At times Silver Linings Playbook gets a little bogged down with too many storylines and characters when time could have been better spent on the two main roles. It is also a little hard to swallow that someone who has been dealing with a mental disorder his entire life can suddenly snap out of it and be completely normal and rational.
Overall the strong performances of the lead actors and the mix of great supporting actors provide for a quick witted sharp story loaded humor. This enchanting little film won’t disappoint and is a well spent two hours if you are in the mood for some romance and fun.
We mostly agree on this one. Although, I do not believe that Pat just suddenly snaps out of it to become a normal and rationale person. I have dealt with someone every day of my adult life that has consistently fought with bipolar manic depression. It is a constant struggle, but there have been many times in our relationship where many months or at one time almost 2 years went by with next to know issue. Some time went by where life was impossible without combinations of as many as 7 medications (every medicine mentioned in this film and many, many more). However, the idea that after difficult ups and downs he could get himself straight by finding an important routine, relationship, and with his medication he could come to an understanding of something that had long eluded him is totally believable. I have seen it at least a dozen times and sometimes after much worse situations. If you don’t have to deal with mental illness often it can be difficult to swallow ( I just had that conversation with my mom), but this is one of the most accurate looks at mental illness I have ever seen. Glade you liked it so much.