SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (2013)0

Written by Yue Jie

Directed by: David O. Russell
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance
Running time: 122 min­utes
Classification: NC16 – Coarse Language & Some Nudity
Release date: 10 January 2013
Rating: 4/5

“I opened up to you, and you judged me.”

Silver Linings Playbook isn’t your typ­i­cal love story. It’s a roman­tic drama between 2 trou­bled char­ac­ters who try to shake each other off while irre­sistibly and inevitably grow­ing closer. On top of that, more char­ac­ters sur­round­ing the pro­tag­o­nists have prob­lems of their own, be it men­tally or psy­cho­log­i­cally. Adapted from the novel of the same name by Matthew Quick, David Owen Russell (The Fighter, 2010) scripts and directs an intel­li­gently crafted and deftly han­dled comedy-drama that promises to keep you fully engaged throughout.

Bradley Cooper, last seen in Hit and Run (David Palmer and Dax Shepard, 2012), stars as Pat Solitano, a patient suf­fer­ing from bipo­lar dis­or­der recently released from treat­ment at a men­tal health facil­ity. Chris Tucker plays Danny, a men­tal patient along­side Pat, steal­ing the show with his small scenes as he makes an appear­ance long after the highly pop­u­lar Rush Hour (Brett Ratner, 1998) film series. Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games, 2012) plays Tiffany Maxwell, a mys­te­ri­ous and rather con­fused girl with a tragic recent inci­dent whose ways to deal is unex­pected and shock­ing at best.

Highly acclaimed vet­eran actor Robert De Niro plays Patrizio Solitano, father fig­ure to Pat with mild obsessive-compulsive dis­or­der (OCD). De Niro deliv­ers an award-winning solid per­for­mance and excels in his role, giv­ing all the right emo­tions needed at the right time and hit­ting all the right notes. Cooper and De Niro star together in this fea­ture after Limitless (Neil Burger, 2011). Patrizio fre­quently bets on American foot­ball with reg­u­lar book­maker Randy (Paul Herman). It is Randy who is respon­si­ble for stir­ring the cli­max of the film when he bets a par­lay with Patrizio on a dance com­pe­ti­tion Pat and Tiffany are involved in, on top of another foot­ball game, just to prove that he isn’t cheat­ing Patrizio of his money.

At this point, the end­ing is pre­dictable, yet view­ers are pushed to keep watch­ing and find out how the pair is even­tu­ally able to deal with their short­com­ings and get together.  All of these, how­ever, come at a price for Pat, as he agrees only because he wants to get back together with his wife Nikki (Brea Bee) whom has taken a restrain­ing order against him. A metaphor for opti­mism, Silver Linings Playbook indeed focuses on sil­ver lin­ings, as Pat does not give up on his wish to see his wife once again. Hence it is the dance com­pe­ti­tion and par­lay that Pat knew would be a chance for him to catch up with the per­son he loved most and get his life back together.

The onscreen chem­istry between Cooper and Lawrence is icy cold yet pos­i­tively nat­ural. How their char­ac­ters meet is no sim­ple coin­ci­dence and it all boils down to a sat­is­fy­ing final act. Despite the many char­ac­ters of the ensem­ble cast in Silver Linings Playbook who are related to Patrick and cen­tral to the plot, Russell ensures ade­quate char­ac­ter devel­op­ment for every­one as much as pos­si­ble. As he does this, he deliv­ers a solid screen­play that empow­ers Pat and spurs him to accom­plish achieve­ments he never thought he was able to, on top of over­com­ing his erratic behav­ior. The screen­play for Tiffany’s char­ac­ter had Lawrence look gothic and messed up with her life, an image a far cry from her pre­vi­ous film appearances.

Silver Linings Playbook is an emo­tion­ally engag­ing drama that can be appre­ci­ated best with a mature mind, for it seeks to show the feel­ings felt and emo­tions dis­played by a bipo­lar dis­or­der patient. Furthermore, humour in this fea­ture med­dles with soci­etal norms and lives of the pro­tag­o­nists. In addi­tion, Russell’s pen­chant for small cam­era move­ments to show nuances made by Pat shows his eye for detail, as these lit­tle actions show the ner­vous­ness Pat has even when he tries to be calm.

With its fair share of intense moments and spon­ta­neous one-liners, Silver Linings Playbook is highly deserv­ing and wor­thy of the awards it bagged at the Hollywood Film Festival. With a cast of Golden Globe nom­i­nees, it wields a strong poten­tial in the Oscar sea­son espe­cially for Lawrence as she stands out in her acting.

Check out the trailer below!