Jono Goes To The Movies: Silver Linings Playbook

I've been trying to get my friends to go see Silver Linings Playbook with me for weeks now and I finally made it happen. Some people would tell me to just go see it alone, but I couldn't think of anything else to further ruin my tainted reputation as a human being. Hell, I made my buddy Jack come over at 1am to watch The Perks Of Being A Wallflower last night. Personal blunders aside, I had the Academy Awards to think for giving me my motivation. Not saying they were enjoyable to watch, but seeing the same 6 films get drilled into your head all night makes you either want to be involved or run far, far away. This film was not the latter.

This is the story of Pat (Bradley Cooper), a man released from a mental hospital attempting to transition back into normal life with his family, who coincidently aren't very normal themselves. Despite his delusions he's trying his best to stay positive and win back his wife, Nikki. Unbeknownst to him, she's not exactly in the same boat. When meeting with friends again, he's introduced to Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) and a strange passive-aggressive awkward romance begins to bloom. To put it simply, put two anti-social weirdos in a room and they'll probably get along. Without detailing the whole plot, throw in Robert De Niro as Pat's football obsessed father with some severe OCD problems and you get a new dynamic to the cliche "two underdogs meet and we all hope they get together" flick. The family chemistry goes between severely depressing to hilarious and heartwarming throughout the story while it tip-toes on the moral lines of when you're actually supposed to laugh or not. The result of Pat's first night home reading in the attic incident sets the tone for the humor, and as always, I laughed like an idiot.

In Silver Linings Playbook they took a romantic story and added the variables of mental illness. It seems like it writes itself to an extent other than the over the top scenarios they get in when it comes to the football and gambling near the end. It's quirky and you get the payoff you're looking for. No sudden turns or crazy plot twists. The only real thing that surprised me was seeing Chris Tucker acting again. Then he was dancing with Jennifer Lawrence and trying to get some which took the surprise away. CLASSIC Chris Tucker, am I right?! She looked pretty good during that part, so you go, Chris.

The second the credits rolled, my friend Jack leaned over to me and sang, "WHITE PEOPLE IN LOOOOVE." and that will pretty much give you the gist. It is not life-changing but it is memorable which is something a lot of films have been lacking lately. Then again, I did see The Last Stand in theaters. WOOF.

Nice write-up.

I wonder what his thoughts on Perks was. I think it was one of the best films of the year.

One of the best of 2012

Pretty much agree - it's a movie you're glad you watched, even if it's not life-changing.
And when Chris Tucker popped up, I just kept thinking "J'MON LEE."

Good review. I loved this movie and it absolutely deserved all the praise it received.

Jono should definitely review Perks though, I want to know if he cried haha.

Great review. I thought it was a great movie.

Originally Posted by Jack Appleby

Pretty much agree - it's a movie you're glad you watched, even if it's not life-changing.
And when Chris Tucker popped up, I just kept thinking "J'MON LEE."

J-MON!!!

Great movie and great acting but the story was predictable.

it's alright, but to me, no movie was in the same league as Django this year, and I feel like the awards robbed them solely due to controversy and the directors name. they gave Christoph the award because hes amazing and german and not well known in this country so its a nice little interesting moment for the ratings. really, thats the problem with the whole thing, they give out the awards based on shock moments, not who actually deserved it.

I mean, Lincoln was a bunch of Hollywood bullshit, there wasn't a sentence of truth the whole 2 hours. Argo was nothing special but enjoyable, a decent thriller, probably the worst movie Affleck has directed yet. didnt see Les Miserables, but how good can that movie be? it's been acted on high school stages to death for decades. I liked Silver Linings, but it shouldn't have been nominated for anything. felt a little preachy on the whole prescription drugs side of things.

I will, however, give credit where it is due in Bradley Coopers performance. while being a little cartoony with the bi-polar, which I forgive, he is so fucking believable as Robert DeNiro's son. down to the speech patterns and all. you get the feeling like he's been around this man his whole life.

as for Chris Tucker, what happened to his face? dude looked like he was having an allergic reaction the whole film.

all I really wanna say tho is, Moonrise Kingdom.

also, that best actress category was a total joke. and Brave beating out Wreck It Ralph?

those people don't know their ass from a propaganda film fabricating a raid on an international terrorists compound.

Originally Posted by TomAce

it's alright, but to me, no movie was in the same league as Django this year, and I feel like the awards robbed them solely due to controversy and the directors name. they gave Christoph the award because hes amazing and german and not well known in this country so its a nice little interesting moment for the ratings. really, thats the problem with the whole thing, they give out the awards based on shock moments, not who actually deserved it.

I mean, Lincoln was a bunch of Hollywood bullshit, there wasn't a sentence of truth the whole 2 hours. Argo was nothing special but enjoyable, a decent thriller, probably the worst movie Affleck has directed yet. didnt see Les Miserables, but how good can that movie be? it's been acted on high school stages to death for decades. I liked Silver Linings, but it shouldn't have been nominated for anything. felt a little preachy on the whole prescription drugs side of things.

I will, however, give credit where it is due in Bradley Coopers performance. while being a little cartoony with the bi-polar, which I forgive, he is so fucking believable as Robert DeNiro's son. down to the speech patterns and all. you get the feeling like he's been around this man his whole life.

as for Chris Tucker, what happened to his face? dude looked like he was having an allergic reaction the whole film.

all I really wanna say tho is, Moonrise Kingdom.

also, that best actress category was a total joke. and Brave beating out Wreck It Ralph?

those people don't know their ass from a propaganda film fabricating a raid on an international terrorists compound.

Django won what it deserved to. Best supporting actor and best screenplay. It was a fantastic year for movies, and while I agree with you that the movie was in a league of its own, I certainly wouldn't say it was robbed. Moonrise Kingdom and The Master on the other hand...

The one thing I didn't care for is how it dealt with mental illness, and how it can apparently just be cured by entering a dancing competition.

Bradley Cooper's character was bi-polar. Jennifer Lawrence's character was depressed and who knows what else.
Neither one of them took their meds.

All they did was enter a dance contest, get a score that met a randomly assigned number (the dads friend said to get a certain number, without really knowing anything about dance contests), then all their problems were miraculously solved.

Remember when he was obsessed with his ex wife? Nope, not anymore, problem solved.
Flash forward a little bit in the future and are there any signs of problems from two people who should be in medication not taking the medication?
Nope, they got a 5 in the dancing contest, so all their problems are gone.

Originally Posted by billcom6

The one thing I didn't care for is how it dealt with mental illness, and how it can apparently just be cured by entering a dancing competition.

Bradley Cooper's character was bi-polar. Jennifer Lawrence's character was depressed and who knows what else.
Neither one of them took their meds.

All they did was enter a dance contest, get a score that met a randomly assigned number (the dads friend said to get a certain number, without really knowing anything about dance contests), then all their problems were miraculously solved.

Remember when he was obsessed with his ex wife? Nope, not anymore, problem solved.
Flash forward a little bit in the future and are there any signs of problems from two people who should be in medication not taking the medication?
Nope, they got a 5 in the dancing contest, so all their problems are gone.

I watched the film a few months ago so I don't remember very well, but are you sure it was shown they weren't taking their meds?

really enjoyed the movie. obligatory "would" for jennifer lawrence

Originally Posted by SomethingLikeTJ

Django won what it deserved to. Best supporting actor and best screenplay. It was a fantastic year for movies, and while I agree with you that the movie was in a league of its own, I certainly wouldn't say it was robbed. Moonrise Kingdom and The Master on the other hand...

you really think Argo was the superior film?