Viewed in
2012
Formats
Movie theater (digital).
Premise
Bradley Cooper plays recently released bipolar man who returns home to his parents, to get his life back, when he bumps into a friend's sister, Jennifer Lawrence, who's recently widowed.
Loved
Lawrence.
Liked
Realistic portrayal of mental illness and sports fandom.
Thoughts
What a weird, interesting, well-executed movie.
This was one of the best ensemble performances I've seen this year. All the hype about Lawrence's magnetic presence was truly justified, playing a crazy gal who's tender, believable, and... oh screw it, I'm just going to quote Zach Baron: "she is Godzilla stomping a building, she is a Just Blaze beat, she is all the natural disasters at once". It might not be as guaranteed as Daniel Day-Lewis' Lincoln, but she's got to be front-runner for best actress. Also, not to get too prude, but I always thought she was mighty attractive, but good googly-moogly, the way they shot her dancing gave me all sorts of feelings.
All around there was great acting. I was really impressed by Cooper's performance as the bipolar lead, slogging through denial, anger management, and delusions. And I was super excited that the great Robert De Niro can still kick some acting butt if given something great. Even Chris Tucker's brief appearances were fun and charming.
From a story-telling standpoint, I loved how director David O. Russell effortlessly shifted focus amongst Cooper's mood swings, Lawrence's loud vulnerability, De Niro's parental guilt and Jacki Weaver's exasperations. It was a like a finely tuned sports team, each player taking turns taking over in an organic, fluid way.
What's fascinating about this film was that depending on your background, you might enjoy it as a sports movie, a Philadelphia movie, or an excellent portrayal of mental illness. Now I've never been to the city of brotherly love, so I kind of felt like I was on the outside on this. I don't think the city's personality emanated through like Rocky did.
As a long-time sports fan, the film makers got a lot of things right. I totally get the almost unhealthy obsessions we can have over our teams failures and struggles. But at the same time sports fandom can be a healing, bonding experience. I loved De Niro's OCD behavior and superstitions. I've been there.
It was fascinating to see the connection of sports fanaticism with obsessive compulsive disorder, and the thin line separating them. Overall, I thought the acting was fantastic, but I had a little trouble believing that their portrayal of these mental conditions were realistic. So I'm going to quote my friend (a doctor in Psychology): "I found some moments of the movie difficult to watch because, honestly, they were portrayed so realistically and I found it emotionally too much to bear. That's just my own experience of having seen folks that really do have these problems." So there.
If I had to nitpick, it's some of the obligatory, conventional romantic plot points. But in the end, Silver Linings Playbook was still an excellent and recommendable film, even if you're not a sports nut/Philly fan/psychologist. You can't help but root for these flawed, memorable people, and marvel at the sublime performances.
Spoiler
The use of Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour" was interesting from a screenwriting standpoint. I totally expected him to have a final showdown with that song to complete the subplot, in which he'd use that song in the dance competition. But it wouldn't have made sense in the whole scheme, because he would've heard it a gajillion times in rehearsal, so it's not like it would've sprung up on him in a climactic way.
