Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

There was something rather therapeutically soothing about coming back to Silver Linings Playbook. I must admit this time around I was not quite as drawn to the direction of David O. Russell, because in some scenes it felt like too much attention was brought to his camera. However, I loved Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, and Rober De Niro, because each one of them in screwed up in their own ways. Although their story takes place in Philadelphia and a lot of talk is made about the Eagles, what these characters really are a cross-section of humanity.

I was just thinking recently how I dislike the term "escapism" referring to watching movies and going to theaters. I do not think I go to movies to escape my life at all. Maybe I do sometimes, but I am fascinated by movies because they can tells us more about ourselves. More about what it is to be human and coping with all that is messed up; all that is broken.

Tiffany (Lawrence) and Patrick (Cooper), both are screwed up. There's no getting past it. She's a widow, who got fired from her job for sleeping around and now she does dance as a sort of therapy. He just spent an 8-month stretch in a Psych ward after he caught his wife in the shower with one of her coworkers. Now whenever he here's his wedding song he goes into a enraged fit. He tries to look for the silver lining in everything, but that does not stop him from hurting the ones he loves.

Tiffany and Patrick are made for each other, even if Patrick refuses to believe it. They both know what it is to be put through therapy, drugs, and the like after personal trauma. They both lack the common filter or etiquette that humanity usually requires. We love them anyways, in spite of these reasons or more likely for these reasons.

De Niro is Patrick's father and a man so invested in betting on Eagles football games that it drives his life. Superstitions run rampant in his household, but he refuses to acknowledge them just like his son refuses to accept his own problems sometimes. It makes for some fireworks and interesting altercations, but at the end of the day they are still family.

The whole film culminates at a dance competition that Tiffany and Patrick have been working up to for a long time. It has the big stakes that you would expect for a climatic event, but most importantly it is this moment in time where Patrick finally realizes Tiff is the girl for him. He finally sees what most of the audience saw all along. They are made for each other, and they can accept each other with all their idiosyncrasies. He continues living his life by The Silver Linings Playbook and it makes both Tiffany and him very happy.

4.5/5 Stars