Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

Five down, four to go. With my recent viewing of Silver Linings Playbook, I’ve crossed the halfway mark in my goal to watch all of the Best Picture nominees in the 85^th Academy Awards next month. Before watching Silver Linings, I had Lincoln winning best picture based on the films that I have already viewed. Now after watching, did my prediction change? Honestly, no it did not. That does not mean though that Silver Linings Playbook is not a good movie. Truth be told, it may possible be one of the best and most certainly the most enjoyable and endearing films I have watched in quite some time.

Bradley Cooper stars as bipolar Pat Solitano, who after serving the court ordered eight months in a mental institution because he beat up the man he caught making love with his wife, is released into the custody of his parents. When he gets out though, he finds out that his father, who is played by Robert De Niro, has lost his job and is making ends meet as a bookmaker (did I mention Pat Sr. has OCD). Pat Jr. immediately gets in touch with common friends in order for him to get in touch with his wife and get their marriage on track. Seems like a pretty basic premise for any love story right? Lovelorn guy does something wrong and wants to make up for it with girl. It’s a Hollywood cliché. This movie though, offers so much more, especially when Pat finally meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) who has some issues of her own.

Now, I am not the biggest fan of romantic-comedies. I think the last one that I enjoyed was The Artist, and I don’t think it’s proper to categorize that as a romantic-comedy by today’s standards. I also seem to have a differing point of view from the majority of what actually constitutes a good romantic comedy. I enjoyed 10 Things I Hate About You, while on the other hand I still cannot understand why people are raving about the nausea-inducing 500 Days of Summer. However, just from the beginning scenes of Silver Linings Playbook, I knew this was going to be a different type of movie. I felt that I was going to get a more mature rom-com that does not adhere to the status quo, and I’ll be damned did I ever.

This isn’t some cheesy love story filled with lame lines that are intended to be funny. Nor does it portray some do-no-wrong, boy-next-door, Mr. Nice Guy whose very existence hinges on some ditzy Barbie doll girl getting together with him. There’s no bad guy jock out to steal said damsel from our hero as well. All we get in this film is the story of two people, how they are struggling (and I do mean STRUGGLING) to survive in the world they live in. A world that judges them and abuses them based on past mistakes. A world filled with people who are just as flawed as they are, but depend on them dearly. We are presented a world that so many of us can relate to. While none of us (hopefully) have ever been committed to a mental institution, or diagnosed as having a mental disorder, I felt so much with the agony that Pat was feeling. The sheer chaos of his life, the helplessness to do anything, the one-track mind that causes him to make decisions that he feels is right but then creates all sorts of anarchy with the people around him. He is, in a word, paralyzed from living the life he wants. We all feel this way sometimes, and it was amazing how this character was brought to the screen by Bradley Cooper.

It was a career defining performance for Cooper. He paints for us an utterly flawed, seemingly dangerous, but ultimately lovable character that we can all connect to. The greatness of Cooper’s performance is most evident with his chemistry with Jennifer Lawrence, who at this point, I believe truly deserves the Best Actress award next month. While Pat is the type of character who doesn’t think about how expressing his feelings affects others or him, Tiffany is the more complex of the two. She has issues and hang-ups of her own because of certain traumatizing events in her past, that she has found it extremely difficult to express her emotions and be happy. Like a teenager who is angry at the world, Tiffany sometimes lets her pent-up emotion come out in verbal outbursts on her family. It is with the arrival Tiffany into Pat’s life that each of their eccentricities are further shown and their weaknesses apparent. Jennifer Lawrence plays the role with such power and realism that you just absorb everything that she wants to convey even without saying a single word. Both main actors deliver career defining performances and we will definitely see more of them in the future.

The supporting cast was top notch as well. Robert De Niro delivers yet another amazing performance as Pat Sr. a bookmaker who makes money based on bets made in American Football. Unfortunately though, he himself has a gambling problem and has OCD. De Niro’s character adds depth to Cooper’s and at the same time showcases yet another painfully flawed character who simply does what he thinks is best for all his loved ones. Jacki Weaver is the matriarch of the family who does all she can to keep this family from disintegrating even further. She puts up with her husband’s behaviour and dangerous part-time job while trying to reintegrate her son into a world that does not understand him. It is a difficult role to portray but it is done very well by Weaver. Chris Tucker provides additional comic relief to the film and thankfully, it is not the type of comedy we are accustomed to getting from him. We see a mellower and more mature Tucker as the fellow mental asylum patient Danny. His constant attempts to escape is hilarious but not over the top, and he brings a needed balance to Pat’s loose cannon personality. Julia Stiles also appears as Tiffany’s obnoxious sister Veronica. We all know the type, she shows this façade of caring for everyone and being nice but in reality, she looks down on her sister and thrives in the misery of her life as opposed to her perfect little world. She does very well in making us dislike her character.

With all the great performances though, Silver Linings could have easily been just like the other romantic-comedies that we are so used to seeing, except this one had mental patients in it as protagonists. It was a good thing that this did not happen and it is all thanks to the excellent way David O. Russell created the film. He effortlessly moulded the very serious topics of mental instability, gambling, and everything else in the film, together with a sweet, inspiring love story. There were light hearted moments, and there were heart wrenching scenes all founded on amazing performances with incredible dialogue. The music and camera angles used just made the impact of this film that much more intense. The final scenes and lines were some of the most entertaining, exciting and downright enjoyable few minutes that I remember from any film I have recently watched.

While I still believe it to be a long shot for best picture, it certainly does deserve all the accolades that it has received and may be the dark horse come next month. It is no surprise that it is the first film in more than 30 years to be nominated for all four acting awards and it is my favorite to win best actress. I can think of no reason why anyone would be disappointed after watching this film. Then again, maybe some people out there will still prefer cheesy, lame movies like 500 Days of Summer to a film that actually has an amazing story and a lot of soul. But hey, to each his own.

9.0/10