Directed by: David O. Russell
Rating: ★★★★
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| Will Tiffany and Pat ever find their silver lining? |
About the Movie
Silver Linings Playbook is based on the novel of the same name by Matthew Quick, and has received eight Academy Award nominations including ‘the Big Five’ (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay), as well as both supporting actors receiving nominations. It has already won numerous awards at the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs and has been both critically and commercially successful.
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| Tiffany and Pat keep bumping into one another... |
The Plot
Pat Jr. (Cooper), a man with bipolar disorder, is released from a mental health facility after suffering a mental breakdown upon finding his wife cheating on him with another man. He is forced to move back in with his father Pat Sr. (De Niro) and mother Dolores (Weaver) so that they can look after him and make sure that he does not suffer a relapse. While in hospital, Pat decides that he will get his life back on track by losing weight and becoming more positive, by seeing the silver lining in everything, and is convinced that by doing this he will win back his wife. His therapist Dr Patel (Kher) encourages him to meet new people on this journey of enlightenment, so when Pat encounters recently widowed Tiffany (Lawrence), the two begin a strange relationship. Pat soon becomes convinced that he must help Tiffany win a dance competition to re-earn his wife’s affections, so the two get closer and closer, all the while avoiding an actual romantic relationship.
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| Will they ever get it together? |
The Best/Worst Moments
The main cast are all excellent. Cooper gives a brilliant central performance by being believably damaged but also loveable. His portrayal of a man with mental health problems is solid and not over egged, and this gives the film a serious and touching tonality that really helps it endear itself to the audience.
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| Bradley Cooper is excellent as Pat Jr. |
Lawrence is also first-rate as Tiffany, and her big moment with Pat Sr. is a hilarious mix of comedy genius and extraordinary reveals. Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver are also superb as Pat’s parents, providing heart and soul into an already genuine movie. The directing is really outstanding, and the main plot and comedy sequences are also tender and hysterical. The ending provides an earnestly uplifting and gentle conclusion.
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| Tiffany is sassy, lewd and rude but she just doesn't care. |
There may be some clichéd moments in the middle, but Tiffany’s explosion towards the end is wonderful and the finale is inspired and wholly brilliant. I really liked Silver Linings Playbook, mainly because the characters are relatable and charming, the situations they find themselves in real and side-splitting, and the style cycles seamlessly between honest emotion and witty dialogue. I particularly enjoyed the fact that the main characters ‘say it how it is’ to everyone around them, as this aspect is both fresh and funny.
In Summary
Silver Linings Playbook is a quirky rom-com that boldly explores mental health in a realistic and amusing way. The two main characters are enchanting and believable, and we are on their side. The supporting cast, the directing and the script are excellent too.
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| The supporting cast are all great, even Chris Tucker! |
On the whole, Silver Linings Playbook feels really genuine because it has characters and situations that aren’t unnecessarily over the top, but still manages not to be boring or bland. The acting is also exceptional, and the film has some really funny moments that are just brilliantly acted and executed.
Should it win Best Picture?
I’ve seen six out of the nine nominated movies for Best Picture (Argo, Django Unchained, Les Misérables, Life of Pi, Silver Linings Playbook and Zero Dark Thirty) and out of them all, enjoyed Silver Linings Playbook the most. So based on that alone, yes, it should win Best Picture, as the other five weren’t really that spectacular, and Silver Linings Playbook was, on the whole, excellent
The other three I haven’t seen could be better than Silver Linings Playbook (Amour, Beasts of the Southern Wild and Lincoln), but to be honest, even if they aren’t, I think we all know that Lincoln will win.
Regardless of Best Picture, I think that this movie definitely deserves an Academy Award, such as Best Director or any of the acting trophies. I am really rooting for it to win something, but I would particularly like to see Bradley Cooper win Best Actor, because his performance is very strong, or Jennifer Lawrence to win Best Actress, because she’s Jennifer Lawrence.
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| Will Silver Linings Playlist win anything at this year's Academy Awards? We'll have to wait and see.. |
Hopefully it will win one of the eight Awards that it has been nominated for because it really deserves to, especially Best Picture. It really is an excellent film, and is certainly my favourite out of all of the year’s entries that I have seen. But realistically, because of Lincoln, it ain’t gonna happen.
And if it did, for the first time in a long time, I'd be speechless.
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