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Quickie Review - Silver Linings Playbook

It's not often that one gets to view back-tp-back five star movies on consecutive nights, but I did just this over the past two evenings.  Silver Linings Playbook is one of the most beautiful movies about one of the least discussed topics; Mental Illness.  David O. Russell's script, adapted from Michael Quick's novel, is incredibly touching, but with just enough humor to allow us to breathe.  The film tackles this complex issue with passion and levity, but most importantly, love. There is not one character who doesn't encapsulate love and this is why the movie works so perfectly.

Bradley Cooper's role as the struggling Pat, is such a change of pace from what I am used to from this actor.  His brilliance from start to finish is undeniable and in any other year, he'd have swept up every award for best actor.  His co-star, who I will unabashedly admit (despite her age) that I'm in love with, is Jennifer Lawrence, who may now lay claim to being one of the stars of two of the top three or four movies in the last four years. As amazing as she was and as much as she deserves her Oscar, she was even better in Winter's Bone and that is saying something.  The awkward chemistry between these two is unexplainable. Their first meeting in the movie would be what I would show film students trying to connect to a stranger.  It's breathtaking to watch in it's awakwardness via the script and it's perfection in the actor's body language.

The supporting cast is as dynamic as it's stars, with Robert Deniro (who I must admit, bores the hell out of me and hasn't been good in almost 20 years), Jacki Weaver and the re-emergence of Chris Tucker. One of the best parts of the movie is it's ability to take the one annoying part of the movie, which is DeNiro's obsession with his son's good mojo for his beloved Eagles and turn it into the single best scene of the movie. Excelsior!

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