Silver Linings Playbook

Silver Linings Playbook is director's David O.Russel follow up to his hugely successful The Fighter (which ended 24-year long history of the Academy snubbing Christian Bale). To be honest I was quite surprised that this director took on to adapt that book - which is essentially a romance story. O.Russel strikes me more of a director who would be interested in more manly subjects like war or boxing - it was only recently that I read about O Russell having a son who suffers from bi-polar disorder and that is what made him took interest in this project. But let me tell you this now - Tiffany, the main female character in Silver Linings, would probably kick any boxer's ass and bring him to tears, just by using her wits and passionate words.

The film follows Pat (sensational Bradley Cooper) who was released from mental institution after 8 months he spent there. During his stay Pat was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder. But the reason he got there was not very unusual - he caught his beloved wife, Nikki, cheating on him. He snapped, beat up the guy who was with her in the shower and to avoid prison he ended up in mental institution. His mother Dolores (beautifully subtle Jacki Weaver) takes responsibly for him and takes Pat home early to his father's Pat senior, (incredible Robert De Niro) surprise.
Pat has a plan - Nikki is a teacher so to show her he cares about her job he will read all the books she teaches in her class. He also plans to exercise and use positive thinking - his goal is to find a silver lining every day. Clearly it works for him as he looses weights and appears to be a very nice and sweet person (albeit the person without any social skills). The problem is that he deluded himself into thinking  that if he becomes better he will get his wife back. He does it to "save" his marriage and not to save himself.

Soon Pat gets invited to his friend's house for dinner party. There he meets Tiffany (fantastic Jennifer Lawrence), young widow who just lost her job because she slept with everyone in the office. Tiffany, like Pat, got her heart broken and just like Pat she doesn't really care about what people think of her. They are like two lonely islands in the word of connected land. Pat doesn't understand Tiffany but he senses a kind spirit in her and soon they start meeting regularly (though mostly it's because of Tiffany's maneuvers to bump into him). Since Tiffany knows Nikki and Pat can't see his wife because of the restraining order, Pat wants her to give Nikki the letter he wrote.
Tiffany agrees but only if Pat does something for her - she loves to dance and wants to enter a dance competition. She needs a partner and reluctant Pat agrees to help her. I don't remember the last time I saw such beautiful sequences of dancing. Don't get me wrong - their dancing isn't the best, but the beauty of it is that it works like a therapy - they have this hobby they share, focus their time and energy on and it slowly cures them out of their worries and sadness and allows them to bond. There are some great moments here that illustrate that, as Pat is so exhausted after dancing that he comes home and he couldn't care less about the books he wanted to read to win his wife back.

The chemistry and the relationship between Tiffany and Pat is very refreshing. It's not your touchy-feely usual romantic movie mechanics where the guy is the perfect prince charming and the girl is pure and lovable. Pat says horribly inappropriate things (one of the funniest recurring jokes in the film is the fact he keeps mentioning Tiffany's husband being dead) and he even calls Tiffany a big slut at one point. Because that is who she was - after the death of her husband she started whoring around because it was the only thing that let her escape the pain and loneliness.
These two damage souls are so different which only makes the chemistry between them more fiery. I found Lawrence performance here to be fascinating because Tiffany's feelings for Par are actually even more evident when the two don't share a scene - when she is waiting for him and he doesn't show up and she is devastated or when she sees his ex wife during the night of the contest and knows that Pat probably won't give a shit about her now that Nikki is there. Lawrence depicts such overwhelming range of emotions in that single moment, when her hopes and dreams crush and burn and she feels furious and heartbroken about it.

But what sold the romance angle of the movie for me were Cooper's eyes during the scene the above image comes from. The way he looks at Tiffany in this moment was so genuine, thankful and eager of the things and finally - happiness - to come, it really made me believe in those two people being in love. The chemistry between them, especially during the incredible final dance is amazing. And that final dance is a little masterpiece on its own - it's just as crazy, joyful and unconventional as the characters really are. I haven't seen two people dancing and wanting each other so bad since Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega danced that twist. Yeah, you read it right.
What's so fantastic about the love story here is that it's so unique and it actually has more depth than you would think it has at first glance. Pat thought he found his eternal love in his wife, who cheated and abandoned him. Tiffany got married and probably thought he will grow old with Tommy, who died. They were both broken, lost, beaten by their sudden loneliness and left with holes in their hearts. And then they meet each other and that saves them.

Since it's really Pat's story we get to see him beginning to understand he loves Tiffany through his eyes - when he is time and time again mesmerized and touched by the things she does, sometimes as simple as choosing a tie he should wear for dance contest. One of my favorite moments happened when Pat's friend was dancing with Tiffany and Pat cut in, probably not even realizing he was jealous.

The film wouldn't work without Pat being a believable character and Bradley Cooper truly does a hell of a job here. I liked Cooper ever since I saw him being all adorable in Alias and I was delighted when he sky rocketed to fame after the Hangover. He has this nice aura about him and he seems like a genuinely sweet guy. But obviously, since a movie like the Hangover was his big break nobody actually thought of him as of great thespian. Well, those people were proved wrong. I'd argue that Cooper had much more difficult job to pull off here than Daniel Day Lewis in Lincoln and Hugh Jackman in Les Miserables. He had to play someone who will feel familiar to us, yet odd at the same time. Human being who you can relate to, yet someone who acts crazy at many times. And he totally nailed that role.

I would be delighted if come Oscar night it was Cooper who wins Best Actor. One, I think Daniel Day Lewis is good but 3 Academy Awards so soon is too much. Two, I love it when someone who deserves to win and is not being picked as sure winner wins - the explosion of happiness and genuine surprise makes for the best Oscar moments - I really don't think I need to remind you all of Jean Dujardin's win last year whose speech was just pure joy captured in words and gestures.
The only thing better would be De Niro winning, because he is seriously amazing here. He has moving moments here playing the father who is worried about his son and just wants to spend some time with him and help him get on his feet. He also has hilarious classic De Niro moment (during which I actually cried because I laughed so much) where he chases the kid who wanted to interview Pat about mental disease. When he catches up to him, while wearing pajamas and slippers, he tells him exactly what he will do with the kid's camera if he won't stop harassing his son.

De Niro's character is really interesting - he has his obsessions and problems too - he is addicted to betting on football games and he counts on...luck and signs when he does so. He is extremely superpositions, he has slight OCD and he pulls his entire family into his little rituals. It's in those scenes we see the love Pat's family has for each other, as everyone participates and Dolores never looks at her sons and husband with judgement - she only has love for them all.
One of my favorite things in the movie was whenever Pat senior and Tiffany interacted. Lawrence, who is barely 22-years old, completely held her own. The moment when during the contest Pat goes to talk to Nikki leaving heartbroken Tiffany behind and Pat senior sees all of that was incredible - he sees this young woman being in love with his son and his son making a foolish mistake. Then De Niro delivers one of the best lines I heard being said in the movie (any romantic movie, really) to Pat, the one that I used as a title of this review.

Silver Linings Playbook is flawlessly written, incredibly acted out and beautifully made. It's one of the year's best films - a love story that is both incredibly touching and funny. It will warm your heart and maybe even force you to look for silver linings in your own life too. And it will convince you that no matter how damaged and insane you may feel, chances are that there is someone out there just as crazy as you - waiting to love you for who you really are.

Silver Linings Playbook (2012, 122 min)
Plot: After a stint in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife. Things get more challenging when Pat meets Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own.

Director: David O. Russell

Writers: David O. Russell (screenplay), Matthew Quick (novel)

Stars: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert De Niro

 
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