Reviews & Previews - Silver Linings Playbook

Posted on Wednesday, March 13, 2013 at 06:00 PM

Silver Linings Playbook

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Robert Deniro
Directed by: David O Russel
Running Time: 122 minutes
Rated: R

Must... Not... Like...Chick Flick
 

I’m always wary about Oscar nominated films that appear to be chick flicks (I’m looking at you. English Patient). I find that the Academy loves its slow moving character studies, which usually mean death by meaningful gazes for two hours. However, Silver Linings Playbook has none of that and instead is a great film with terrific actors and well written dialogue.

Cooper stars as Pat, a man who is released from a mental hospital after a nervous breakdown due to problems in his marriage. On his release his only thought is to get back with his wife. In the meantime he has to live with his parents and prove he is not longer a danger to himself or anyone else.

As he moves through his journey to wellness he meets Tiffany (Lawrence) a confessed reformed slut with a whole truckful of baggage herself. Tiffany recognizes a certain kinship with Pat, who she sees as equally damaged, but his only goal is to reunite with his wife. A restraining order makes that difficult for him though. Tiffany offers her help in contacting Pat’s wife in return for Pat agreeing to dance with her in a dance contest. Ignore that last part, of course it makes no sense but it’s a movie.

Cooper and Lawrence are very good in the movie, going easily from charming and vulnerable to the edge of scary crazy without going over the top. Their chemistry is believable and their comedic timing works to bring a lot of laughs to this very enjoyable film. You will also like the rest of the cast. Deniro has a good time playing Pat’s father and special recognition has to go to John Ortiz as Pat’s friend Ronnie who steals the scenes he is in.

the cast is helped by a great script that keeps the story moving. The film is well paced and the dialogue is believable, even if some parts of the plot aren’t so much. The movie explores the difficulty of trying to find that silver lining after your world implodes around you and does it with humour and great characters to support the story.

I don’t think the happy ending will surprise anyone and I almost wish they had gone another way with it. It’s hard to believe that any two people with the kinds of issues the Pat and Tiffany had are going to find happily ever after with each other, but it appeals to a certain demographic so we can give it a pass.

Sure, this may appeal more to the ladies but for the guys you will see a lot of films worse than this this year.

4 stars out of 5.

S. Tran also writes at Cracked.com, Gunaxin.com and Uproxx.com