Silver Linings Playbook reviews

Big Magilla
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Re: Silver Linings Playbook reviews

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Mister Tee wrote:In a year where everyone has noticed a paucity of best actress contenders, with reviews like this, Jennifer Lawrence is emerging as a sure-shot for nomination.
You never know with Weinstein. He has four or five major irons in the fire this year with The Master; Django Unchained; Quartet and Song for Marion also in the mix. He could champion Lawrence or Maggie Smith in Quartet or both in lead and Amy Adams in The Master; Pauline Collins in Quartet and Vanessa Redgrave in Song for Marion in support among the actresses as well as Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master Terence Stamp in Song for Marion]; Bradley Cooper and Robert DeNiro in Silver Linings Playback and Leonardo DiCaprio in Djanjo Unchained among the actors, giving him 11 shots at acting awards, which may be a record for major acting contenders from a single company.

The biggest questions marks at this point are Smith and Collins who will have to outpoll Judi Dench and Smith in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel for prominence with the geriatric crowd and Stamp and Redgrave with those who are predisposed to vote for Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva in similar roles in Amour.

Right now, I'd say Marion Cottilard in Rust & Bone; Quvenzhané Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild and Keira Knightley in Anna Karenina are close to being locks with Naomi Watts in The Impossible looming on the horizon. No wonder Helen Hunt is being talked about for supporting actress rather than lead in The Sessions.
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Re: Silver Linings Playbook reviews

Post by Sabin »

I had a good feeling about this one ever since I saw the trailer.
"How's the despair?"
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Re: Silver Linings Playbook reviews

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In a year where everyone has noticed a paucity of best actress contenders, with reviews like this, Jennifer Lawrence is emerging as a sure-shot for nomination.

Screen Daily

Silver Linings Playbook

9 September, 2012 | By Tim Grierson

Dir: David O. Russell. US. 2012. 121mins

Unique, beguiling, and occasionally frustrating: These descriptions equally apply to Silver Linings Playbook and its two central characters, a bipolar man fresh out of an institution and a depressed woman reeling from her husband’s death. This romantic comedy-drama from director David O. Russell represents a merger of the two sides of his filmmaking personality — the freewheeling spirit of his early indies (Flirting With Disaster) and the more traditional crowd-pleasing tone of The Fighter — and even if the mixture doesn’t always gel perfectly, the brave, resonant performances from Bradley Cooper and a never-better Jennifer Lawrence go a long way to selling the movie’s bold beating heart.


Lovingly observing its characters and passing no judgments on their sporadically irritating behaviour, Silver Linings Playbook does eventually take a turn toward the conventional by having them train for a local dance competition.

Being released by the Weinstein Company in the US during Thanksgiving weekend, Silver Linings Playbook no doubt wants to make a play for award consideration. Strong reviews should help, and the presence of Cooper and Lawrence (not to mention Robert De Niro and, in a very small role, Chris Tucker) will attract box office, but the film’s decidedly quirky tenor probably guarantees only mid-range grosses.

Based on Matthew Quick’s 2008 novel, Silver Linings Playbook could be considered a very distant tonal cousin to Punch-Drunk Love, which similarly featured two outsiders — one suffering from clear mental and emotional problems — making a go at love. Pat (Cooper) has just spent several months in an institution for brutalizing his wife’s lover, but he’s convinced he can win her back, even though she’s moved on. Into his orbit comes Tiffany (Lawrence), a tart, combative young widow who has a reputation for being a slut since her husband has died. They become unlikely friends, spurred on by the fact that Tiffany still communicates with Pat’s wife, who has put a restraining order on him.

There’s nothing inherently fresh about a film featuring an imbalanced protagonist, but Silver Linings Playbook does good work normalizing Pat’s condition — so much so that the film’s herky-jerky tonal shifts seem to be related directly to Pat’s mood swings. (In this way, it also draws comparisons to Punch-Drunk Love.) Freed from the institution, Pat is determined to embrace a healthier, more positive outlook, and Cooper superbly reveals his character’s struggles to keep his façade of a fresh start intact.

As confident and empathetic as Cooper is, though, Silver Linings Playbook’s real revelation is Lawrence, who conveys a dangerous seductiveness as the thorny, vulnerable Tiffany. Though Tiffany’s problems may not be as extreme as Pat’s, she is equally wounded, and for the first time in her brief career Lawrence plays a grownup — as opposed to a self-possessed young person — with incredible flair and steeliness.

Lovingly observing its characters and passing no judgments on their sporadically irritating behaviour, Silver Linings Playbook does eventually take a turn toward the conventional by having them train for a local dance competition. Still, Russell daringly lets Pat and Tiffany follow their own rhythm wherever it may take the movie, which harks back to the unbridled looseness of his character-driven early work.

For all of Playbook’s oversized emotions and sensitive romantic development, late-reel complications — which include Pat’s superstitious, sports-obsessed father (De Niro) needing money to start a restaurant — derail the film’s momentum and shift focus away from Pat and Tiffany’s delicate bond. But much is redeemed by a finale that, although perhaps too pat, manages to arrive at a deeply satisfying conclusion that celebrates these characters’ enduring, endearing oddness.
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Re: Silver Linings Playbook reviews

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Hollywood Reporter

Silver Linings Playbook: Toronto Review
8:12 AM PDT 9/9/2012 by David Rooney

The Bottom Line
Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence expand their range in David O. Russell's winning comedy romance about two people struggling to rebuild their lives.

TORONTO – While David O. Russell’s foray into conventional drama with The Fighter was a richly satisfying knockout, it’s a joy to see him back in the off-kilter comedy realm with the wonderful Silver Linings Playbook. Cheerfully yet poignantly exposing the struggles, anxieties, disorders and obsessions of ordinary people, this is a film as odd as it is charming. It brings out the best in a superlative cast led by Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, both of them showing unexpected colors.

Adapted by Russell from Matthew Quick’s well-received 2008 novel, the comedy in many ways recalls the director’s early brush with a screwy family, Flirting With Disaster. And Pat Solatano (Cooper) is a similarly driven central character to the one played by Ben Stiller in the 1996 film, just quite a bit more unstable. There’s a degree of dysfunction in almost all the characters here, but this comes off as the affectionately observed foibles of real people, not calculated movie eccentricities.

A longtime sufferer of undiagnosed bi-polar disorder, former high-school teacher Pat has spent eight months in a psychiatric facility on a plea bargain after a violent incident when he surprised his wife Nikki (Brea Bee) having sex with their co-worker. Released into the care of his parents, Pat Sr. (Robert De Niro) and Dolores (Jacki Weaver), he is determined to put his newfound hospital wisdom into practice.

“I’m remaking myself,” he says, vowing to find the silver lining in every situation. Pat remains convinced this is the way to win back Nikki, who has filed a restraining order against him.

Initial signs are not promising, however, as Pat reacts badly to the trigger of their wedding song (Stevie Wonder doing “My Cherie Amour”) and gets manic as he tears up the house looking for their nuptials video. In the most hilarious of the early scenes, as he’s reading Nikki’s teaching syllabus to be supportive, he wakes his parents at 4am to rant about Ernest Hemingway’s refusal to end A Farewell to Arms on a happy note.

Cooper gives filter-free Pat a desperation that’s both painful and funny, asserting his positivity and growth while at the same time emitting alarm signals. The actor’s work becomes even more appealing once Lawrence enters the picture as Tiffany. A young widow depressed since the death of her cop husband – and possibly before – she’s every bit as volatile and blunt as Pat, and also tainted by her own dark meltdown.

Given the quirkiness of the humor, the pathos slowly generated by these characters is unexpected. The chemistry between Cooper and Lawrence makes them a delight to watch, their spiky rapport failing to conceal a mutual attraction.

Remaining stubbornly fixated on the absent Nikki, Pat ropes Tiffany into helping open communication channels by delivering a letter. In exchange, Tiffany insists that he partner her in a dance competition, requiring long rehearsal sessions in her garage studio. The loveliest of these scenes is set to the melancholy waltz strains of “Girl From the North Country,” sung by Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash, which typifies Russell’s idiosyncratic music choices.

Working with cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi and editor Jay Cassidy, Russell gives the comedy an invigorating messiness. The action is shot and cut with the same nervous energy that hard-wires the two central characters. It’s no mystery where their relationship is headed, even with all the clashes and mutual disappointments. But the crazy ways the film gets there feel fresh.

Russell is working in an absurd, comedy-of-awkwardness vein, but he captures genuine vulnerability in his characters and their various degrees of imbalance. This pertains in particular to Pat’s father, who shows that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Having lost his job and his pension, Pat. Sr. runs a small betting operation, which he hopes will finance a cheese-steak joint. His love for his home football team, the Philadelphia Eagles, is a consuming passion fueled by distinct OCD traits and governed by superstitions. Given that his father has been banned from the stadium for repeatedly starting fights, Pat wonders in therapy why his single violent episode is considered so much worse.

Pat Sr. is a gem of a role, and De Niro hasn’t been this alive and emotionally engaged onscreen in years. A scene in which he melts while conceding to Pat that he may not have been the most nurturing parent is an extremely touching moment. Australian actress Weaver (Animal Kingdom) is daffy and warm as Pat’s salt-of-the-earth mother, who frets about her son being able to keep it together.

One of the chief pleasures here is the incisive work of actors in even the smallest roles. As Pat’s best friend Ronnie, John Ortiz bristles with the stress of home, job, baby and controlling wife, the latter (Tiffany’s sister) played with cool command by Julia Stiles. Indian veteran Anupam Kher brings a nice needling manner to Pat’s therapist, who’s also a mad Eagles fan. And Chris Tucker drops in now and then as a nutty pal from the clinic, who seems quite comfortable with his tics.

But while the entire ensemble is sharp, their work would be nothing without two such deftly anchoring lead performances to bounce off. Cooper brings enormous heart to a role that might easily have veered toward the abrasive, and Lawrence shows off natural comic chops that we haven’t much seen from her until now. There’s self-exposure and risk in both these actors’ work here, which makes for rewarding comedy.
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Silver Linings Playbook reviews

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This time, the critical response appears closer to the rapturous tweets from Toronto.

Variety

Silver Linings Playbook

By Justin Chang

A Weinstein Co. release and presentation. Produced by Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen, Jonathan Gordon. Executive producers, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, George Para, Michelle Raimo, Bradley Cooper. Co-producer, Mark Kamine. Directed, written by David O. Russell.

Pat - Bradley Cooper
Tiffany - Jennifer Lawrence
Pat Sr. - Robert De Niro
Dolores - Jacki Weaver
Danny - Chris Tucker
Dr. Cliff Patel - Anupam Kher
Never one to shy away from unlikely sources of comedy, David O. Russell tackles mental illness, marital failure and the curative powers of football with bracingly sharp and satisfying results in "Silver Linings Playbook." Again bringing an invigorating edge to whip-smart mainstream fare a la "The Fighter," the writer-director employs a twitchy visual syntax to match the dazzling verbal acumen of his two screw-loose leads, terrifically played by Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. Strong reviews and word of mouth should make this boisterous and heartfelt loser love story a year-end winner for the Weinstein Co.
In adapting Matthew Quick's 2010 novel, Russell doesn't merely aim to tell the story of Pat Solatano (Cooper), a former substitute teacher and cuckolded husband who's just emerged from eight months in a mental institution. From d.p. Tasanobu Takayanagi's whooshing, zooming handheld camerawork to editor Jay Cassidy's jumpy, hyper-caffeinated rhythms, the intent is clearly to bring the viewer into close identification with Pat's troubled but weirdly upbeat mindset. At the same time, this ensemble laffer manages to take a longer view of the character's recovery, a journey aided in significant and quite unexpected ways by his friends and family.

Returning to his family's home in Philly suburbia, Pat reassures his warily supportive parents (Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver) that he no longer needs medication, he's in the best shape of his life, and he's determined to woo back his wife, Nikki, who left him around the time of his confinement. But despite his persistent belief in silver linings ("Excelsior!" he's fond of repeating to himself), it's not long before Pat's bipolar disorder, already apparent in his delusional tendencies and lack of anything resembling a verbal filter, begins to violently reassert itself.

Because the film's immersive approach has little use for straightforward exposition, it takes a while before the reasons for Pat's meltdown and Nikki's subsequent restraining order against him become entirely clear. Around the same time, Pat strikes up an unusual friendship with abrasive, dark-haired widow Tiffany (Lawrence), a self-described "crazy slut with a dead husband," and apparently the sole neighborhood resident capable of relating to the local wacko.

The film's key tension is between Pat's refusal to become intimate with a woman besides his wife, and Tiffany's determination to open him up to new experiences, possibilities and people. Falling into his arms tearfully one minute, administering a sharp slap the next, Tiffany is a marvelously unstable element, daring Pat to judge her for her own past misdeeds, though she has no qualms about cutting through his defenses and attacking what she sees or doesn't see in him.

In a script that never lapses into mundane or uninteresting language, the scenes between Pat and Tiffany are sculpted with an almost David Mamet-like sharpness, amplified onscreen by the intimacy and focus of Russell's direction and the superbly harmonized lead performances. Exuding his usual cranked-up charisma, Cooper has one of his best roles here as a damaged soul whose misconceptions nonetheless hide an unimpeachable core integrity. Yet it's Lawrence's Tiffany who has the most dynamic effect on the picture, always pushing Pat into a defensive position and, remarkably, making him look like a model of sanity by comparison.

The film's mildly farcical structure fleetingly recalls Russell's "Flirting With Disaster" and "I Heart Huckabees," just as its fascination with psychologically unbalanced protagonists brings to mind the more squirm-inducing likes of "Spanking the Monkey." Yet if "Silver Linings Playbook" is a softer, gentler thing than the director's previous works, following a traditional finding-yourself-and-falling-in-love template in the guise of something moderately darker and more subversive, it nonetheless boasts a level of charm, heart and formal sophistication increasingly rare among adult-driven studio comedies.

While the pic's willingness to make light of Pat's disorder may give some pause (at one point, he and Tiffany bond over which meds they have and haven't taken), it doesn't soft-pedal his journey to rock-bottom, and Russell's technique so bristlingly evokes the character's mental state that one feels sympathetically swept up in his experience rather than positioned outside it. After a somewhat saggy midsection, the story takes a surprising and ultimately exhilarating turn, as seemingly digressive subplots involving a "So You Think You Can Dance"-style competition and the Solatanos' idolatry of their favorite sports team, the Philadelphia Eagles, pay off bigtime in the closing reels. Pic sends the viewer out on an unabashed and hard-won high note.

Chris Tucker makes a rare and effective appearance as Pat's best mental-ward buddy, Weaver is a warm delight as his pacifist mother, and it's hard to remember the last time De Niro was this effortlessly endearing and relaxed onscreen. Danny Elfman's music and the soundtrack supervised by Sue Jacobs (Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour" has a key plot function) compulsively thread in and out of the action, always serving to reflect Pat's heightened mental/emotional states. Other tech credits for the Pennsylvania-shot picture are pro.
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