Silver Linings Playbook review

Pat: You have poor social skills. You have a problem. 
Tiffany: I have a problem? You say more inappropriate things than appropriate things. 

Director: David O.Russell
(2012)

Mental conditions are a very difficult, and often serious subject to commit to film. When making a film that deals with such illnesses, it’s undoubtedly going to be a challenge for any director. Play things too dark and the audience may feel stifled and melancholic. Conversely playing events solely for laughs will cause viewers to scratch their heads or even be offended. Much like last years The Descendants, Silver Linings Playbook is a jarring mix of comedy and drama. The only difference is Director David O. Russell has the deftness of a sledgehammer.

The film opens with Pat (Bradley Cooper) in a mental institution. His mother (Jacki Weaver) intends to bring him home after 8 months of his spell, his incarceration caused by a nervous breakdown after his wife cheated on him. This, coupled with his Bi Polar has caused him to realise he needs to reinvent himself in order to have any chance of being with the woman that he loves, despite the  restraining order she has on him. Upon returning home, Pat meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a desperate, depressed widow who forms a bond with the eccentric Pat as the 2 of them help each other solve their problems. If first impressions were any indication of a films overall quality, SLP has a very unconvincing start. Characters are poorly developed, the plot is stop and start and the story is introduced simply isn’t satisfying. The first 20 minutes are a total grind, and things don’t seem to be getting any better until Lawrence’s Tiffany appears, finally events shift into a higher gear.

The performances are easily the best thing about Silver Linings Playbook. Bradley Cooper, Hollywood’s leading funny man is redefined here in a more serious, dramatic role. It’s a vast departure from the half baked lounging that he did in the Hangover films, and he does have some scenes where he shows he can, ya'know, act. His performances won’t be removing your socks ala Joaquin Phoenix in The Master, but it’s a solid, if inconsistent turn. 2012’s new girl Jennifer Lawrence on the other hand, is easily the star, giving the finest performance in the film, an academy Award contender and rightfully so. Since her tremendous work in The Hunger Games earlier this year she has proved her consistency, once again taking her characters nuances and troubles, displaying them with dramatic authenticity. It’s one of those performances where she embodies the character completely.

So while these young actors shine brightly, the more experienced ones suffer at the hands of minute screen time and a poor script. Robert De Niro plays Pats violent OCD suffering father who, like the entire family, possesses an almost unhealthy obsession with the Philadelphia Eagles. The choice to play his OCD almost solely for laughs is a bad one that's not improved by another one of De Niro’s half arsed attempts at acting. I struggle to look at this man and remember that he once gave the world Travis Bickle; his fall from brilliance has indeed been a great one. Still, at least the script asks something of him, a colossal contrast to Jacki Weaver’s character. Weaver is a great actress relegated to a worrisome mother figure that possesses all the backbone of a jellyfish.

Russell’s slack script tarnishes other aspects of the film too. His characters unhealthy obsession with the Philadelphia Eagles is. Using characters mental disorders to generate laughs is certainly questionable, but the laughs it produces are out of guilt, not the witty script. After the 4^th time Pat remarks about Tiffany’s dead husband, we kind of get the point. This repetitious nature stretches to the character obsession with their local team too, the Philadelphia Eagles. It’s a quirk at first, but soon becomes a rather irksome aspect of the film. What's more bewildering is the part they play in the plot. De Niro’s character insists on betting his life savings  in a parlay the depends on both the Eagles winning and Pat and Tiffany achieving a 5 out of 10 in a dance contest the pair have been practicing for. It’s utterly absurd, the shit that any sane writer would steer clear of due to its pure ridiculousness. I understand that Russell adapted from a book, but why he didn’t refine this terrible aspect of the plot is beyond me.

So after some good scenes between Pat and Tiffany, the friendship they forge through dancing, we arrive at a finale that pulls the whole film into cliché. Will there ever be a film where a man and woman can be just friends? Considering how SLP does well at distinguishing itself from other RomComs, Russell totally bottles it. Coupled with a terrible plot full of convenience, contrivance and plain bad writing, Silver Linings Playbook falls back on its strong performances and guilty humour for all of its 2 hour runtime.

6