I'm behind on my summer movies, kids... Star Trek: Into Darkness and The Great Gatsby might have to wait until after the Missus and I come back from Florida- where beachtime, relaxation and tropical drinks with alcohol in them await us. In the meantime, the Missus and I sprung for a Redbox and some pizza last night and I finally, finally got to watch Silver Linings Playbook.
And you know what? It was a pretty damn awesome movie.
The movie opens as Dolores Solitano (Jacki Weaver) arrives at a mental hospital in Baltimore to check her son Pat Solitano Jr. (Bradley Cooper) out of the hospital to take him home to Philadelphia. Pat's been in hospital for treatment for his bipolar disorder after he snapped and attacked the man his wife, Nikki was sleeping with after coming home early one day to find them messing around in the shower. While at the hospital, Pat makes friends with Danny (an almost unrecognizable and entirely awesome Chris Tucker. We need to see more of him!) who is constantly fighting with the hospital and trying to leave. (He eventually gets out for real by the end of the movie.)
Arriving home, Pat discovers his Dad, Pat Sr. (Robert DeNiro) is out of work and has resorted to bookmaking to save up money to open a restaurant and that Nikki has taken a restraining order out against him following his violent outburst. Despite working with his therapist Dr. Patel (Anupam Kher) he refuses to take medication for his condition and, at a dinner at his friend Ronnie's (John Ortiz) he meets Ronnie's sister in law, the recently widowed Tiffany Maxwell (Jennifer Lawrence.) The two strike up a friendship- from Pat's point of view this seems advantageous as Tiffany promises to get his wife Nikki a letter in exchange for Pat participating in a dancing competition with her.
The friendship between the two deepens as they prepare for the competition and everything seems to be going well until Pat accompanies his brother Jay to an Eagles game, where they get in a fight and don't make it to the game- Pat Sr, who views Pat as a good luck charm had bet heavily on the game and blames Pat and Tiffany for the loss until Tiffany points out that the Eagles had been winning when they were spending time together. Convinced that maybe Tiffany isn't the bad luck charm he thought she was, Pat Sr. ups the ante and goes in double or nothing: the Eagles beat the Cowboys by ten and Tiffany and Pat get at least a five in the dance competition.
And soon enough, the stage is set for the dance competition and both Pat, Pat Sr. and Tiffany come to important realizations about life and themselves and end up happier for it. (Yes, I know that sentence seems vague but really, if you happen to be reading this and haven't seen the movie yet, I don't want to spoil the ending.)
Overall, I thought this movie more than lived up to the hype. Jennifer Lawrence richly deserved her Oscar for her portrayal of Tiffany Maxwell and had Bradley Cooper not had the misfortune of going up against Daniel Day Lewis in the Best Actor category this year, I think he could have won that hands down. The story works as well... it's perfect for Philadelphia, it's perfect in the way it portrays mental illness, it's a beautiful love story about fathers and sons and falling in love and how you get over people and move on with your life to begin something new. And CHRIS TUCKER! Holy cow, I never thought I would say this- but Chris Tucker can act, y'all. I enjoyed the Rush Hour movies but I'm really impressed with his performance here- once he takes the manic side down a touch or two, he can turn in a seriously solid performance. I really liked him in this and I hope to see him in more movies. (The Soundtrack is also worth snagging as well-- the song by Alabama Shakes and Johnny Cash/Bob Dylan collaboration are awesome.)
My Verdict: A really excellent movie- with a solid script, amazing performances from the entire cast and a nice story that will leave the viewer feeling good about the universe when the credits finally roll. **** out of ****.
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