Pat get out of mental institution, and he plans that with positivism he may win back his wife, who had moved out and left him after his violent outburst which led to beating her lover unconscious. He tries to figure out a way to contact her, which is hard because of the restraining order, but then he meets Tiffany. With her help, Pat might get his letters to his wife, but of course Tiffany has something to ask for return.
Silver Linings Playbook seemed like a regular romantic drama comedy, and I mostly based that opinion on the fact that is was nominated for the Oscar. Usually if a movie is a comedy and it's nominated, it's pretty regular. Nominated dramas can usually be more complex - however they hardly are. But to be honest, I didn't know everything about the plot. I didn't know that Pat was in a mental institution. I only knew that Jennifer Lawrence's character Tiffany had some mental issues, but I had no idea Pat was in the same boat. Of course that made Silver Linings Playbook a bit more interesting, but of course mental health as a theme isn't exactly ground-breaking, but it adds a certain something, if it's well written.
So was it well written? Well, of course Silver Linings Playbook is nothing compared to Girl, Interrupted, which displays mental health much better. Then again mental health or mental issues weren't exactly the main theme or main point of Silver Linings Playbook, which was kind of annoying. I have no idea how the novel is, I haven't read it. Maybe the novel portrays and examines mental health more and better than the movie, or maybe the point wasn't to examine that. Maybe it was supposed to be a love story, that just happened to be between two mentally unstable people. Partly Silver Linings Playbook reminded me of Filth. Of course Pat is not at all like DS Bruce Robertson, but they both seemed to be obsessively determined to get their wives back. The difference is, that the other character knew when to give up.
To be honest, I can't say I could call this movie a comedy. Once again I'm simply relying on the genres mentioned on iMDB. Partly the movie was the sort of "feel good" movie, it possibly may make the viewer happy. But I don't now if it'd a comedy. It wasn't exactly funny, it didn't make me laugh. Sure, partly it was light-hearted, so it wasn't 100 % serious drama, but there are many dramas that aren't completely serious, but they still aren't classified as comedies. The line has to be drawn somewhere though, like if a movie has a funny scene or it's partly light-hearted, it doesn't mean it's a comedy.
Jennifer Lawrence did a good job as Tiffany, and I'm not blaming it on her, that her character was basically a bit darker version of manic pixie dream girl. Bradley Cooper on the other hand wasn't as good, he seems to be similar in every role he does, he does everything the same way. Sometimes you can't even tell his smaller parts apart, because mostly he even plays characters that have little or no depth. Pat's character had some depth, but in a sort of cliché story it didn't make much difference.
Silver Linings Playbook may be a bit fresh movie, but it isn't really special. The story isn't ground-breaking or even really good, it was just decent. If I liked something, it was the editing. It was pretty cool, and I hope the editor is doing well and getting some really cool movies to edit.
☆☆☆☆
4 / 10
Maybe I also should mention something about the Academy Award nominees of this year. I'm betting on The Grand Budapest Hotel or Birdman winning the best picture, Michael Keaton winning the best actor and Rosamund Pike winning the best actress. Also The Grand Budapest Hotel is also probably getting best cinematography, and Birdman best directing, and Interstellar best visual effects.
And even though I'm betting on Rosamund Pike, I'm kind of hoping Julianne Moore would win best actress, and X-Men Days Of Future Past best visual effects. And of course I'm rooting for Edward Norton to win best supporting actor.
However I'm not going to watch the gala. It represents so many things I'm against, and like a wise man once said, it's rich people giving prizes to other rich people. And of course the academy is incredibly sexist and racist (every actor / actress nominee this year is white, and rarely women are nominated for best directing etc.) I'll just check the winners the morning after, since I'll anyway be asleep during the gala.
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