Silver Linings Playbook: strong story, humor and Jennifer Lawrence

In the rewarding family dramedy Silver Linings Playbook, Bradley Cooper plays Pat, a guy who is trying to conquer his mental illness without medication, and it’s not working out well for him.  Although his mom springs him from a locked psychiatric facility, he is prone to violent meltdowns.  Worse, he still has the delusion that he can get back with his estranged wife; but it’s clear that his marriage and his teaching career have been irretrievably wrecked by his past behaviors (and there is the matter of restraining orders).  He meets a young widow (Jennifer Lawrence) who also has enough issues to know her way around the menu of psych meds, and his life changes in ways that he can’t anticipate.

The fine filmmaker David O. Russell (The Fighter, Three Kings, Flirting with Disaster, I Heart Huckabees) invests the first half of the film is establishing the seriousness of Pat’s disorder and the impact on his family.   Russell applies enough humor to keep this part bearable, but it can discomfort folks expecting a regular rom com.  But this is the key to the film’s success, because he makes the illness realistic and the opposite of cute.  If the plot followed the usual rom com arc and pacing, the film would be phony and insulting.

It’s difficult to describe the brilliance of Jennifer Lawrence’s performance.  Her Tiffany is at once volatile, damaged and enticing.  Lawrence demands the focus of the audience in every scene.  She was justifiably nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for Winter’s Bone, my pick for 2010’s top movie.  This performance is as least as good.

We also see Robert DeNiro playing Cooper’s father as a guy who is just as crazy as his son, but neither diagnosed or medicated.  In another outstanding performance, Jacki Weaver (Oscar nod for Animal Kingdom), plays the strong and long-suffering mom who must steer her hair-trigger son and tinderbox husband away from self-inflicted disasters.  John Ortiz is wonderfully appealing as Pat’s henpecked buddy.

It’s worth seeing Silver Linings Playbook for Jennifer Lawrence’s performance alone, but I recommend the film overall for its strong story, topicality and humor.