Silver Linings Playbook: Review

By Spence Blazak

The romantic comedy is a genre that has followed a relatively simple formula over its life. Guy meets girl, thousands of reasons present themselves as to why they should never be together, and then they get together. When it comes to rom-coms, the devil is truly in the details. Silver Linings Playbook is a breath of fresh air, but still falls short of genre transcending glory.

The movie follows Pat (Bradley Cooper, The Hangover), a man who has spent the last 8 months in a mental hospital after having a psychotic episode caused by walking in on his wife cheating on him. Back in his hometown of Philadelphia, Pat tries to pick up the pieces of his life for the sole purpose of winning his wife back. As he tries to reconnect with his friends, Pat is introduced to Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games) a nymphomaniac also dealing with mental issues that he hopes will be the key to rekindling his marriage.

Silver Linings Playbook plays to its strengths for the majority of the film, focusing on its strong performances, witty script, and detailed direction. The film shows a coming out for Bradley Cooper, who finally shows that he can do more than just act in d-bag roles. His portrayal of a man with bipolar disorder works because it is cemented in believability. In “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” the mental patients seem like maniacs, whereas Cooper’s just seems like a regular guy who is a little off and loses it sometimes. The fine-tuning of the performance is impressive down to the way Cooper carries himself, which is as though he is an edgy, unattractive sad sack. This is especially impressive for a former “Sexiest Man Alive” winner, making himself regular with nothing more than a slouch and awkward body language.

Jennifer Lawrence and Robert DeNiro (who plays Pat’s father) are also impressive, being funny when they need to be and crying when they must. DeNiro rises above his performances from the last decade where he was just a caricature of himself, and Lawrence rises to the occasion of a convincing mental illness sufferer.

Director David O. Russell is coming off of his hit The Fighter and does a very detailed job with his work on his latest. Quick cuts during Pat’s episodes create a frantic mood, and he captures the necessary ambience with each scene and setting. The film’s setting among the hubbub of Philadelphia Eagles fans is a brilliant choice; with the unrest and perpetual ups-and-downs peppered with terrible luck being a nice motif for the characters.

Russell also penned the script and does a good job of keeping it ping-pong paced, as well as making it, you know, actually funny. The script also leaves enough of the characters’ backgrounds foggy to keep you glued to the screen, but sadly a lot of these reveals turn out to be a bit underwhelming.

Silver Linings Playbook falters most in its ending. A film about mental illness, obsession, and inability to deal with real life stresses shouldn’t wind up with a painfully fairytale ending. A more appropriate conclusion would have been as off-beat and quirky as the rest of the film, rather than just a cop out and deviation of tone. In this way, it was very similar to last year’s Crazy Stupid Love. It also uses the crutch of genre clichés where it didn’t have to, soaring in some scenes before limping with moments of predictability in the next. Silver Linings Playbook is definitely worth a watch, but falls short of true greatness because it doesn’t stay true to itself throughout.

If Crazy Stupid Love is a three star-er, I’d give Silver Linings Playbook about 3.25. Definitely better, but still falls a little short of the golden four-star standard of Groundhog Day.