Silver Linings Playbook- Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert De Niro

The Gist

Silver Linings Playbook
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Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper) has just been released from a mental health facility after being treated for 8 months.  His mother (Jacki Weaver) made a deal with the court that he could return as long as he visited a therapist every week.  Pat has bipolar disorder and was sent to the facility after finding out his wife, Nikki, was cheating on him and nearly beat her lover to death.  Now that he is out of the hospital he is determined to win her back and prove that he has become a better man worthy of her love.  He trains day and night to show friends and family to give him a second chance and possibly lift the restraining order that Nikki had placed after the incident.
While he is training Pat reconnects with his friend who invites him over for dinner.  While at the dinner Pat meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence). The dinner quickly takes a turn for the worse and Pat and Tiffany decide to leave.  As the days go by Pat and Tiffany grow closer, when Tiffany reveals that she may be able to give a letter to Nikki from Pat if he would like.  The only catch is that Pat must compete with Tiffany in a local dance competition.  
As all of the this goes on Pat's father (Robert De Niro) tries to connect to him through football and tells Pat that he is his good luck charm.  As long as Pat watches the game with him the Eagles will win.  This becomes more and more difficult as Pat blows off his dad for various reasons. 
Pat must now decide whether or not he can trust Tiffany with her deal and if he can please his father at the same time.  

What We Think
Reviewed by The North Star
Run Time: 122 minutes
Rating: R
Every year my family and I go see a film on Christmas Eve.  This year we looked really hard for a film to go see and I had heard so much about this film that I somehow convinced my family to go see it with me.  When we got there, there was only two other people in the theater.  As it became closer and closer to the actual time the movie was going to started large groups of people filed into the theater.  By the time the film started there were only a few seats vacant. I was completely surprised because this film had been out since before Thanksgiving and on top of that it was an independent film, indie, and most times no one goes to see indies in theaters.  They wait for them to come out on DVD.  The second that the movie started I knew that I was going to like it and that I could understand why it had been nominated for four golden globes.  
Before I go into specifics that golden globes that it has been nominated for are Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, Best Actor - Musical or Comedy - Bradley Cooper, Best Actress - Musical or Comedy - Jennifer Lawrence and Best Screenplay - David O. Russell.  
This post is going to be broken down into the different awards because this is what the critics are giving the movie praise for.  First off, the acting.  Going into the movie I had only seen Bradley Cooper in movies like Limitless and Valentine's Day.  In both of those movies he wasn't anything special and I never really thought of him as a serious actor.  After watching this film all I can say is that he truly deserves that Golden Globe possibly the Oscar.  He played the role perfectly.  Often with movies that involve mental diseases or disorders the actor with the disorder will overplay the role and make it seem extremely unrealistic.  Bradley Cooper never came close to that.  He always played a character I could believe and made me forget that he was Bradley Cooper but instead that he was this completely new person, Pat Solitano. Then, we move on to Jennifer Lawrence.  Coming into the film I knew that she was going to be good because she is consistently good.  Even in The Hunger Games which is a big budget film where acting doesn't necessarily matter she was amazing.  This movie was no exception.  Even though she wasn't the MAIN character she still had a huge role and in my opinion she stole the show.  Her character also had a mental disorder, which is never specifically stated but I think it was some sort of anger management or fear of abandonment.  She also played this very realistically.  It was very understated and very true to what someone with that kind of disorder would act like.  Every line pulled me closer and closer to her character and by the end I felt as though I could perfectly understand her and it was as if I had known her my whole life.  Again, I forgot that she was Jennifer Lawrence and I 100% believed that she was Tiffany.  Her comedic timing in the film was perfection, same with Bradley Cooper and although there were other characters in the movie their acing didn't even compare to these two.  If they don't win some sort of high award I will be completely shocked.  
Now, onto the screenplay.  At the end of the film during the credits it said that it was based off of a book.  I didn't know that and so as soon as I got home I looked it up.  The film was adapted to a screenplay by a man by the name of David O. Russell.  After looking at the plot line of the book I found that at lot of the things didn't match up with the movie and for once I was glad that I had seen the film first.  It seems that some of the things that I really liked in the movie were different in the book.  I do not want to give away any spoilers but I think I would see the movie first.  Anyways, I thought the script was brillant.  I was never bored and I never had the urge to start staring at the ceiling or check my phone to see what time it was.  It was funny but never pushed a joke so much that it was hitting you over the head.  The jokes very subtle and clever.  The only thing that I would have changed was a part with the therapist at the Eagles game.  It seemed unrealistic and unneeded.  Other than that I thought the script was one of the best that I have seen in a LONG time and I hope that it wins but there is a lot of competition this year.
All in all I liked almost everything in this movie and I highly recommend it.  There are only tiny things that I would have changed but overall I see it winning a lot of the big awards this year.  I will definitely be one of the people rooting for it at the award shows. 

Real Teen Rating~ A- : See it with some friends!