On the surface, Silver Linings Playbook looks like a generic romantic comedy. But you would be sorely mistaken. The individuals contained within are anything but your standard, mainstream-friendly crowd. These people are “crazy”. Ok so crazy isn’t exactly a PC word.  Pat Solitano is severely bipolar. So much so that even the very sound of the song “My Cherie Amour” is a trigger that will set him off into a violent rage. Mental illness isn’t a particularly easy subject to mine for laughs and not make the audience feel uncomfortable. But it is a very real issue that is often misunderstood. For a while Pat’s smug, self-satisfied tendency to say whatever pops into his head, is unpleasant. At first it’s difficult to embrace the character. Actor Bradley Cooper has often traded on these attributes in movies like The Hangover films where he’s meant to be glib and overconfident. Here however his easily excitable and smartass demeanor makes him a rather unlikeable bloke.  But interesting things happen in Silver Lining Playbook. As the story develops we start to slowly realize he cannot control these loathsome qualities and he becomes something of a tragic figure. This might possibly be Bradley Cooper’s greatest achievement in acting as it plays to his strengths.
Enter Tiffany Maxwell, played by Jennifer Lawrence, an equally damaged soul also in need of repair. Hiding behind a protective facade of harsh honesty and unrepentant attitude, she isn’t quite the sweetest peach on the tree either. She’s getting over the recent death of her husband. Following a bout with promiscuity that has the whole town thinking of her as the local harlot, she is trying to rebuild her life when she meets Pat and the two strike up a friendship. Pat still wants to reunite with his wife whom Tiffany sees occasionally. She wants a partner for a regional dance competition. The two agree to help each other out and a camaraderie of sorts is begun.
Silver Linings Playbook was directed by David O. Russell. Coming off the success of 2010’s The Fighter, he is clearly on a career defining high. This is his second outstanding feature in a row. I am finally willing to forgive him for I ♥ Huckabees. In addition to actors Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, both rising stars giving arguably their best performances to date, it also boasts Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker and Julia Stiles in one of the most impressive ensembles casts of the year. The script’s odd mix of mental illness and humor can be a bit off-putting in the beginning, but as the narrative wears on, the story takes root, and the personalities engage. It all builds to a satisfying and winning conclusion that manages to combine an obsession with the Philadelphia Eagles football team and a ballroom dance competition. Despite a foundation in genre conventions, this is anything but your typical rom-com. David O. Russell’s adaptation of Matthew Quick’s novel turns these archetypes on their ear. These people aren’t cute, they’re abnormal. Silver Linings Playbook remains an altogether winning slice of life concerning argumentative but brutally honest characters that don’t care whether you like them. The shock is that we surprisingly do.
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