This independent film came out around the same time The Hunger Games did back in 2012, and I remember everyone comparing Jennifer Lawrence’s acting in Silver Linings Playbook to her more action-oriented, blockbuster film. I finally got around to seeing it. I was disappointed, not in Lawrence, but in the film itself.
Basically Pat, played by Bradley Cooper, has just gotten out of the mental hospital after eight months. He has been working on himself to try to win back his ex-wife who is terrified of him because of the bipolar anger incident that landed him in the hospital. Then he meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), and she has lost her husband recently, too. If you’re aware that this is a perfect set up for a RomCom, you would be correct.
Initially, the film is tackling what those in theaters tiptoe around: mental illness. In my opinion, this part of the film was handled well, but the shortcomings in the plot cannot be ignored. If a film is over two hours long, it is reasonable to expect the conflict that has been shoved in our faces would be resolved in a relatively interesting fashion. Instead, Bradley Cooper’s character, Pat, changes his mind without us seeing it on screen. All of the film builds up to this decision of which woman will he choose, the ex or Jennifer Lawrence, and through a serious lack of on screen attention, Pat reveals his big decision after a rather uninteresting conflict that somewhat relates to why we’re really all there to watch the movie: to see Jennifer Lawrence in a role other than Katniss Everdeen.
Maybe it’s because I can off of watching Good Will Hunting with Robin Williams playing a loving, if somewhat unconventional, therapist, but the role of Pat’s therapist (Anupam Kher) is rather frustrating in that the first time we see him, he blatantly plays Pat’s wedding song, which is a trigger for his anger episodes, before their first appointment. This introduction is good for the fact that it sets up how the viewer will feel about the next several therapy sessions included in the film: frustrated. They aren’t entertaining, and they show Pat as psycho crazy rather than just being bipolar, as diagnosed by the unseen doctor. His unhinged behavior is either an acting choice by Cooper or something that is not explained on screen and remains in the writer’s head. Regardless, it is off putting and prevents the audience from fully sympathizing with Cooper’s struggles.
It is safe to say that Silver Linings Playbook did not live up to the hype it received. The only things that stuck with me are how clever the title is and how amazing Jennifer Lawrence can be when standing up to the stereotypical male characters in the film.
6/10
EmzaO 