Before we fall into the realms of the Christmas movie, (it won't be long now), we catch up with this dramatic-rom-com from 2012. Starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, TNiFN presents;
Silver Linings Playbook
Based on the novel "The Silver Linings Playbook" written by Matthew Quick, this weeks film traces the life of Pat Solatano (Bradley Cooper) as he attempts to rebuild his life after a spell in a state mental institution where he was recovering from an "episode" and being treated for bipolar. The "episode" occurred when he found his wife cheating on him with one of her work colleagues. Pat was quite rightly upset at this and proceeded to beat his wife's lover, but clearly his bipolar issue took over and he took the beating too far. As a result he ends up with a restraining order and a spell in the institution.
The film opens with Pat eight months into his treatment, which is also the minimum time he is required to spend in therapy, as deemed by the courts. His mother; Dolores (Jacki Weaver) turns up to take him home, which is against the doctor's wishes, but Dolores feels it is in her son's best interests to be home with his family. Pat believes himself to be better, but he is still under the delusion that his wife Nikki will take him back. So much so, he takes to running to get in shape and reading to improve his intellect and show Nikki he is committed to getting back together. Unfortunately nobody believes that this will ever happen.
Pat arrives home to be reunited with his dad; Pat Senior played flawlessly by Robert De Niro. Pat Sr. clearly has some issues of his own, namely OCD. He is also in financial trouble after losing his job and has resorted to bookmaking and gambling to earn money. He also insists that Pat Jr. is a lucky charm and wants his son to watch the football with him, to bring their team luck.
Pat Jr. is also still seeing a doctor, but refuses to take his medication, as he believes it makes him foggy and less alert. However, he attends the sessions and this is where we learn a lot of the history behind Paddy's story. (Pat, Patrick Paddy, both junior and senior Solatano men answer to all of those!)
So there you have it, that is the basic storyline that fills the first part of this two hour film, it does start slowly, it does not pick up the pace at all and it could, for some, be a tad boring. However, it is an essential build up, giving you the complete emotional, psychological and factual points that are necessary to take the film forward into the next part.
A friend of Patrick Jr. who still is in contact with Nikki (Pat's wife) invites Pat over for dinner, also present is the sister-in-law of Pat's friend; Tiffany, played by the lovely Jennifer Lawrence. Tiffany is also suffering shall we say, with some mental issues and can relate, to a degree, with Pat. This friendship is the development in the second half of the film where the pace picks up and the film moves from a dramatic comedy, to a more romantic comedy drama. Although Pat is adamant that he is going to be reconciled with Nikki, he needs to have the help of Tiffany to get a message to her. However, to do this Pat has to do something for Tiffany in return.
Still with it? There is a lot going on with Silver Linings Playbook, which is a good thing. It is not hollow at all, it is a multi-layered, multi-faceted story. Each twist and turn in the plot takes you in another direction and the route to the end is beset with pitfalls and diversions. As per normal in our reviews, we do not want to give too much away, so the synopsis will stop here and we will just pontificate for a moment and say how great the story is, there is a lot going into the film, there is a lot of dialogue and there is a great deal of interaction between Pat Jr and Sr., which has a relevance to the story. The interplay between the Solatano family members is sheer brilliance. De Niro is sublime as the father who has lost his way somewhat with his namesake son. We cannot underestimate the part played by Jacki Weaver either, as Dolores, Pat's mother, she may only be on the periphery of some of the scenes but she is superb whenever she is on screen.
As for Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, just fantastic. The two roles must have been hard to play, being very demanding and very emotional, but they pull it off so well, dealing with the mood swings of their respective characters, plus reeling off the very verbose script with ease in the finished movie.
In the end, it does turn out to be a feelgood romantic comedy, but you have to go through the dramatic start, to get the feel of the characters. The comedy side is played down, there are no jokes as such, moreover it is real life issues that are seen as funny, not jokes put in to lighten the mood. The ending is superb, because you really do not know where the story is taking you, you are expecting one thing and another option appears. You do literally have to wait to the end just to be sure.
As for personal approval from the TNiFN panel, the matriarch, who tends to express her thoughts on a film's worthiness by the time it takes her to drop off, suffered somewhat by the slow start as a result the eyelids drooped and snores were heard! However, she perked up when the film did. The junior member loved it, but she had seen it before and knew it was good. As for the me; fantastic! Brilliant story, brilliant build up, fantastic interaction between characters, superb acting and a gripping plot that had you thinking until the end. Superb. However, the combined scores is somewhat lower than I would like. Perhaps it will be viewed in a better light when we watch it again!
TNiFN Rating 83%
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