A CRAZY THING CALLED LOVE...

MOVIE REVIEW:

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

By:
G.P. MANALO

Starring:

Bradley Cooper

Jennifer Lawrence

Robert De Niro

Silver Linings Playbook – is based on the book with the same name by Matthew Quick and it centers on a man named, Pat who is suffering from unannounced bi-polar after an “incident” with his wife. When he is finally free from the mental institution, he comes back from his family having everyone he knew are very worried that things will go wrong again. When Pat discovers that his ex-wife gave him a restraining order, he ends up obsessing on bringing her back to him. But when he meets a mysterious girl named Tiffany, who is also troubled yet they are very alike to each other, he thinks that she can help him in bringing his wife but in one condition she needs his help to participate in this dancing competition that she wants to participate in.

Of all the Oscar movies I was anticipating on this movie (Django will be awesome, don’t get me wrong), I finally went out of my way to watch this movie and it was worth it because right off the bat, I loved this movie, I was expecting it to be good, but I wasn’t expecting it to be this great. I thought that it was entertaining; I thought that this was a beautifully written, perfectly acted and masterfully directed by David O. Russell.

As I describe the plot, I know it sounded silly and it is something that I can rent from a DVD store but as I watch the movie, it’s actually not that shitty cliché movie that I describe it to be. There’s something about David O. Russell’s writing (and I’ve seen this in the past) that he can write off clichés in his movies but you ended up not minding it because of how compelling the story was told that the clichés actually work, it felt like he writes real people with real problems, it shows in his previous movie “The Fighter” and it definitely shows here and that kind of writing style actually works In a movie like this. You believe in the dilemmas they are going through, you believe that Bradley Cooper is suffering in this “disease” and how it affects the people around him and yet these dilemmas can actually happen in real life, how characters can be representations of the people you know or maybe even those dilemmas must’ve happened to the person you know got through the same thing. The writing actually gave both Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper’s character (probably) both shared a great on-screen chemistry in this movie, and both are very relatable (oddly enough I can relate to Bradley Cooper’s character) and engaging characters from start to finish. The writing gave each tone a room to breathe; a dark tone being accompanied by a light-hearted comedy gave each other time to showcase it in well thought-out comedic timing, This being a romantic-comedy with really dark and light-hearted jokes at the same time.

Not only had the writing done a fantastic job telling the story but also the performances were really… up there (as I’d like to describe it). David O. Russell continues to prove that he is masterful in directing actors; Bradley Cooper in this movie, this is probably Bradley Cooper’s best performance yet. I like how he is trying different roles nowadays; he is building up to be a perfect leading man in movies and I also like how he has a new identity than being “That guy from the hangover”. He along with co-star Jennifer Lawrence made you believe in their self-destructive behavior(s) and as their chemistry goes on and you thought that it is pretty sweet that they are helping each other out and you see the progression of their change. We also have a very surprising performance from Robert De Niro, He always gives it his all despite in the shit he is in in the end we would say that he is good nonetheless but here it is different. Sure he (definitely) gave it his all but it was in a different level of a performance from him. And last but not the least is Chris Tucker, Which is a surprise to me when I have heard about this movie, I read the cast one by one in the poster and I saw his name I was very surprised that he is in a project that is not Rush Hour.  This is definitely a different role from him; sure he is still doing the hyper-active talking but it actually works when you know about his character.

In the end, Silver Linings Playbook is a well done film. It’s masterfully written and directed by David O. Russell. This movie had spectacular performances and writing. This movie had engaging characters as they take you to the ups and downs of their lives. I enjoyed the movie from start to finish; I highly recommend seeing this movie immediately in theaters. It’s a very romantic movie about crazy people… Who knew? 

THE GOOD:

+UNPREDICTABLY SPECTACULAR PERFORMANCES

+GREAT WRITING AND DIRECTING BY DAVID O. RUSSELL

+WELL BALANCED TONE

+COMEDIC TIMING

THE BAD:

NONE

MY RATING:

5/5 - EPIC WIN!