Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Silver Linings Playbook (2012) -- D. O. Russell

Sometimes a movie takes you by surprise.  I approached Silver Linings Playbook like many would, expecting something different or quirky from director David O. Russell (I Heart Huckabees), but unsure how enjoyable a portrayal of people coping with mental health issues might be.  I was right on the first point but wrong to be worried about the second.  Russell has put together a complete package here -- a funny, warm, humanistic and seemingly realistic film that manages to be sharp and eccentric and ultimately romantic.  Bradley Cooper is astonishing as a man coping with bipolar disorder and the legacy of his own actions after finding his wife cheating on him.  Jennifer Lawrence is the unlikely love interest coping with her own issues after the death of her police officer husband.  A dance contest brings them together.  Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver star as his parents, also coping as best they can.  The plot synopsis makes the movie sound like a downer or a didactic preachy movie-of-the-week social issues film, but I assure you it is not.  David O. Russell's own son apparently struggles with similar emotional issues and he brought his own insights to the challenges the film offered.  The acting is top notch throughout (including Chris Tucker in a small but funny role). And despite the fact that I work in a psychology department, I still felt that the film granted me more empathy toward people with serious mental illness and the ability to see them more easily as the rounded whole people that they are.  A rare recent five star film.