Movie Review: Silver Linings Playbook

The story begins with Pat getting out of a mental hospital after having a breakdown.  It is quickly revealed that Pat has been suffering from bipolar disorder, making him occasionally insensitive and not having the same filter that most people have.  On his road to recovery, to restore his marriage, he meets a good friend of his who invites him to dinner and he meets a woman who is a little loose with her morals, Tiffany. The two don’t quite hit it off, but they get along enough to help one another.  Pat lives with his parents who are ardent Philadelphia Eagles fans (something I personally find abhorrent).  After the incident, Pat has a restraining order and a personal cop assigned to him.  He lives with his parents and trades help from Tiffany to speak to his wife.  In return, he must participate in a dance competition that Tiffany has no partner for.

The story is comical and entertaining, but the depth of it is greatly lacking.  I felt the caricature of mental illness was just that for both Bradely Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, the latter winning dozens of awards for what I’d argue isn’t a stellar performance.  I found myself scratching my head as to why so many critics were falling over themselves to give Lawrence some reservoir of credit for a role in what is basically a romantic comedy.  Since As Good As It Gets, mental illness has been a great harbinger of awards, but that doesn’t mean it was done well or should be sensationalised.  The movie was entertaining, but to see awards being given out for a romantic comedy is, in and of itself, laughable.