By PATRICK MULLEN
Although Silver Linings Playbook is a comedy, the film presents the viewer with an incredibly morbid story of a man suffering from mental illness who constantly lies to his wife. The film is a challenging one because you want to laugh at times when you feel you should not and, on occasion, you fail to laugh when you feel you should. Still, Silver Linings Playbook is a great movie. It is a comedy film that has meaning, which seems to be a rarity nowadays.
Bradley Cooper (The Hangover) plays Patrick Solitano, a newly released mental hospital patient, whose wife has a restraining order against him. While we see Pat’s struggles and flaws in his Philadelphia life, we root for him through all of it. To help with his recovery (or perhaps to impede it) he has his parents, played by Robert De Niro (Great Expectations) and Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom). Eventually he meets the beautiful Tiffany, (Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games) and finds that she is just as messed up as he is.
The relationship between Pat and Tiffany is the centerpiece of the film. It is quite intriguing, however, due to the performances by and chemistry between the two leads. The performances all-around are fantastic, including De Niro, who has done his finest work in over a decade. The characters, despite being eccentric and having more than a few problems, are relatable. One of the film’s messages is that we all have a little Pat and Tiffany in us.
David O. Russell (The Fighter) adapted the film from a novel by Matthew and he also directs the film. While he does a good job at both, his writing especially stands out. The dialogue is witty, and perhaps most importantly, the characters are great. It always helps to have great performers, of course, but Russell’s dialogue is superb, especially between the two lead characters. Pat and Tiffany both have a lot of depth and have plenty of issues that seem very real, even if you have never experienced anything similar.
Your perception of this film may be different than mine if you do not find this sort of humor funny. It has been criticized by some critics for having a few laughs at the expense of those with issues like depression, but mostly the jokes are in very good taste. The disorders seem real due to the writing and acting, and this film never goes for the cheap, easy laugh. The film has a complicated, potentially troublesome story to tell, but does a great job in riding that proverbial fine line.
While this film was never hysterical, it was consistently funny throughout — if not because of the characters, then at least there were laughs at the expense of Philadelphia sports fans’ misery. It is very heartfelt, making it one of the best films of the year.
