Silver Linings Playbook
What a fabulous movie. After you read my review I recommend you go see it. It has the cinema trifecta: a great script, great directing and great acting. The actors play to each other, their timing is pitched perfect. Nuance makes for great performance. De Niro’s slight down turned lips, tilt of his head and begging eyes define the scene. Bradley Cooper captured the unsettling stare of man with psychological problems. Jennifer Lawrence invades Cooper’s personal space by literally by running into him.
Cooper left his Hangover, A-Team bad boy persona behind to become a head shaven garbage bag jogger and one hell of an actor. His character, Pat, is Bipolar; more manic than depressed. He is released from a psychiatric institute in Baltimore (yuck, Baltimore) to return home. He brings with him a lot of unresolved problems. Mental illness is a contagious disease and his family suffers from it. Trepidation and sadness molds his mother’s face. Even De Niro cries; just two tears.
De Niro is a bookie who makes an oversized bet to solve his financial problems. Football is his salvation. He wants his son to watch the games with him so they can bond. His sincerity is questionable. Since he is very superstitious he feels his son’s presence with help the Eagles cover the spread. This home situation is not a place of mending.
Jennifer Lawrence uses her physical presence as part of her performance. In most of the movie she is in Cooper’s face defining the tension between them. Cooper hopes to make up with his estranged wife and Lawrence pretends to help. Lawrence has her own issues. Unintentionally these two emotional cripples help each other find peace and love. This is the engine of the movie.
My one complaint is that Chris Tucker did not have more of role. He was the original manic actor but here he is subdued and understated. He is a psychiatric patient and Cooper’s friend. His limited scenes bring some of the funniest moments of the movie. His humor is better than any medication.
Ok, enough said. Go see this great movie.
joe
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