For all the movie posts I write there are certain ones that I really hope will inspire you to watch the film I’m writing about. This is one of those.
Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
I watched this again recently and it’s honestly one of the best films I’ve seen.
If you haven’t seen it, it’s a romantic comedy/drama starring Bradley Cooper (The Hangover), Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games), Robert De Niro (Casino), John Ortiz (American Gangster) and Chris Tucker (Rush Hour) among others.
It's based on the 2008 novel, “The Silver Linings Playbook” by Matthew Quick.
This is what it’s about:
After losing his job and his wife, and spending time in a mental institution, Pat Solatano (Cooper) winds up living with his parents (De Niro, Jacki Weaver). He wants to rebuild his life and reunite with his wife, but his parents would be happy if he just shared their obsession with the Philadelphia Eagles. Things get complicated when Pat meets Tiffany (Lawrence), a woman with problems of her own who offers to help him reconnect with his wife, if he’ll do something very important for her in exchange.
I absolutely love this movie!
There are few films that I feel are as close to perfect as you can get in terms of story, characters, performance and dialogue but this has to be one. It’s virtually impossible to fault it.
Now I know some people (I’m mainly talking to the guys here) will be put off by the romance aspect of this movie, but if you’re expecting your usual “romcom” you couldn’t be more wrong. In fact, although it has romance, it’s actually heavier on the drama and comedy than it is all the “lovey dovey” stuff. The comedy is hilarious but not in the conventional sense, it’s more observational and situational than your typical "laugh-out-loud" comedy.
The two main characters, Pat and Tiffany (played by Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence) are so broken and damaged that that alone provides a lot of the comedy and makes for some really funny and awkwardly entertaining moments throughout the film, especially between Pat having no filter and Tiffany being so direct.
The story is excellent, and although the main theme of the film is Bradley Cooper’s character trying to get himself together so he can reconcile with his wife, there’s so much more going on, particularly within his family unit.
The performances are superb and the supporting cast (De Niro and Ortiz especially) are absolutely brilliant!
For some strange reason I like it when the same actors work together on multiple films. I’m not sure why, I’m just a bit geeky like that. In this case Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence have worked together several times including on American Hustle (2013), Serena (2014), Aloha (2015) and Joy (2015), which also starred De Niro. He and Cooper were also in Limitless (2011) together (another great film)! I guess some actors just have great chemistry, and that’s definitely true here.
If you’re looking to get romantic this Valentine’s Day and fancy a slightly unconventional romcom, you can’t go wrong with this movie. It’s funny, heartwarming and uplifting, has a great soundtrack and I just can’t rate it highly enough. It’s no wonder it was nominated for (and won) so many awards, with Jennifer Lawrence taking home an Academy Award for best actress in a leading role.
It’s currently streaming on Netflix.
Seen it or read the book? Let me know.
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