Movie Review: Silver Linings Playbook

For the first twenty minutes or so of Silver Linings Playbook you’re completely unsure what to think. It feels a little disjointed; the character exchanges are aloof at best and generally there’s an uneasy feel to proceedings.

By Mike Sheridan

Then David O’Russell (who last directed The Fighter) slowly draws you in, managing to use the neurosis of the characters to actually engage you. It could’ve went severely pear-shaped with lesser actors, but he gets superb performances out of his cast, including a career best from Bradley Cooper and a best-in-yonks from De Niro.

We first meet Cooper’s Pat as he’s being discharged from a mental institution by his mother, who is ignoring the advice of the doctors. We learn that an “incident” has caused a breakdown, and only know that it had something to do with his estranged wife.

Constantly talking, thinking and shouting about how they are meant to be together, he’s side-tracked when he meets Jennifer Lawrence’s troubled Tiffany, a stunning but notorious local girl with a tragic and eventful past.

Whether it be Three Kings or The Fighter, O’Russell has a distinctive way of having his characters bounce off of each other organically. His execution here is typically loose and this is reflected in the fine work of his leads.

While Cooper might ostensibly seem to be too attractive for the role, he pushes an edge we don’t see from him too often and he really makes the role work. De Niro is also excellent in his meatiest role in a long time, but Lawrence steals the movie from under all of their noses in every single scene she’s in.

She should find herself at the business end of an Oscar nomination come 2013 for her amazing performance.

You don’t expect to be drawn in by Silver Linings Playbook, but you are anyway. It’s got a trio of superb performances, a realistic fractured family dynamic and also manages to be very funny. Go see it.