Another
Playbook of filmmaking perfection from director David O.
Russell.
***** out of 5
122 minutes
Rated R for language and some sexual content/nudity
The Weinstein Company
The leaves are changing and starting to fall which means one thing to me –
Oscar bait is in the air. Week after week now, studios will be
finally bringing out the big guns in hope of scoring early recognition of
something worthy of the coveted gold Oscar. So far,
Argo has been
sitting at the top of my list, but it has a chance of being bumped after
bearing witness to David O. Russell’s new
Silver Linings Playbook.
Adapting Matthew Quick’s novel,
Silver Linings Playbook brings a
film that rightfully flips the bird at conventional romantic-comedies. Pat
(Bradley Cooper) has just been released from a mental institute in Baltimore.
His mother Dolores (Jackie Weaver) has talked the courts into letting him move
back home under the supervision of herself and his father, Pat Sr. (Robert De
Niro). After a quick turnaround back to the institute to return fellow patient
Danny (Chris Tucker), Dolores takes Pat home. He’s forced to take in some meds
and participate in therapy with Dr. Patel (Anupam Kher), after he was
institutionalized for beating up the history teacher with tenure he caught in
the shower with his wife Nikki (Brea Bee).
Not everything at home is fine and dandy. While Pat was diagnosed as
bi-polar, his father also seems to be dealing with his own OCD. Pat becomes
obsessed with winning back his wife and begins by reading everything on her
syllabus and showing her that he has changed. After meeting up with his friend
Ronny (John Ortiz), whose domineering wife Veronica (Julia Stiles) is good
friends with Nikki. Veronica invites Pat over to dinner, along with her sister
Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence). Tiffany has just been fired from her job and
recently became widowed.
Tiffany and Pat quickly become a little obsessed with each other for very
different reasons. All Pat wants is for Tiffany to deliver a letter to Nikki,
which she quickly uses against him to blackmail him into being her dance
partner for a couples competition. She’s always wanted to compete but her
football-obsessed husband never had time. Speaking of football, Pat’s father
thinks he has returned his beloved Philadelphia Eagles’ juju and believes
Tiffany is throwing it all out of whack because they’ve been spending so much
time together on Sundays. But everything is about to change in some unexpected,
and some not so, ways.
I’ve always felt that David O. Russell was robbed when his last effort,
The
Fighter, lost out to
The King’s Speech. While some may not
believe in the power of repeat viewings to be one of the key elements in winning
(see also the loss of
Juno to
No Country for Old Men), I
think it should be. I may own
No Country as I am a completest and own
every Coen Brothers film on Blu-ray, but I have only watched that one twice.
Juno
on the other hand, has had its fair share of spins in the old player. Same goes
for
The King’s Speech, I’ve only seen it once, don’t own it, and feel
it’s been over-praised, at least as far as Best Picture goes, but I digress.
The
Fighter I have also watched on multiple occasions, no thanks in part to my
wife’s Marky Mark obsession, but mostly because it’s such an enjoyable movie on
top of being award-winning.
Russell always manages to cobble together an eclectic cast to bring out the
best in his characters, reaching all the way back through his filmography from
Flirting
with Disaster,
Three Kings,
I Heart Huckabees to
The
Fighter and now
Silver Linings Playbook. Not to mention that he’s
also written or co-written every film he’s directed (with the exception of
The
Fighter), which goes to show what a rounded filmmaker he really is.
Cooper and Lawrence are the real winners here, and together they deliver a
dramedy tour de force. Yes, Cooper has been more hit-or-miss over the years,
but Lawrence proves yet again that she’s still the beacon of talent brought to
light in
Winter’s Bone. When the nominations are announced early next
year, don’t be surprised to find plenty of deserved love for
Silver Linings
Playbook.
Photos courtesy The Weinstein Company
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