Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

One of the most surprising miracles of the past couple years has been the resurrection of filmmaker David O. Russell, who in the wake of 2004’s I Heart Huckabees seemed as if he jumped off the face of the Earth. He developed quite the bad reputation in the industry, and when most people hear his name they immediately associate him with the leaked video in which he spends a considerable amount of time screaming obscenities at Lily Tomlin. He also could never bring himself to commit to a project, and in general he seems like a man whose mind is bouncing all over the room rather than just focusing on a single thing. He finally made something of a comeback with 2010’s excellent The Fighter, but with his new film Silver Linings Playbook he’s back to making movies that are 100 percent his own, even if he seems more willing to play by the rules.

Eight months prior to the beginning of the film, Pat (Bradley Cooper) was sent to a mental institution for the violent of assault of the man who was sleeping with his wife. Pat’s mother (Jacki Weaver) takes him out of the institution prematurely, and he returns home to live with his parents and get his life back on track. Pat’s father (Robert De Niro) wants to use the opportunity to get closer to his son, which for the most part means watching Philadelphia Eagles games on Sunday. This new family-centric lifestyle hits a snag when Pat starts spending a lot of time with the equally messed up Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), who is trying to get by as a young but aggressive widow. The film spends its entire running time bouncing between scenes of Pat’s family and scenes with Tiffany, until ultimately the two combine in a typical but rousing climax.

“Typical but rousing” is a fine way to describe the movie as a whole, which never goes too far out on a limb but retains a level of inspired energy that never lets up. The use of overlapping dialogue and slightly (or more than slightly) broken characters is nothing new for Russell, and Silver Linings Playbook doesn’t stray too far from his overall comfort zone. Still, Russell is so good at what he does that it’s a joy to watch him back in his element. Between The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook, he seems to have decided to keep his films a bit more on the straight and narrow than he did in the I Heart Huckabees era. There’s still a distinct Russell stamp here, but it’s in service of a story that isn’t bound to challenge many.

Still, what’s wrong with that? Especially when Russell is able to get great work out of just about everybody in the cast. In particular, this film has the Bradley Cooper performance I’ve been waiting for. After a few years of playing smooth a-holes and struggling writers well but never terrifically, he has finally found a role that showcases all of his considerable talents. Cooper has always been an effortlessly charming actor; I’ve just been waiting for him to find a film and character like this. Few actors can pull off the balance of childlike sincerity and barely-controlled rage that makes up this Pat character, and Cooper is one of them. Mark Wahlberg, who originally was meant to play the Pat role, is another. That’s about it.

Russell has a history of getting great work out of his actors, even if he has to scream at them to do it. Lawrence continues her winning streak that started with her Oscar-nominated performance in Winter’s Bone, even if this seems like a role written for a slightly older person. One of the most pleasant surprises of the movie is Robert De Niro, who gives one of his most engaging recent performances as a father who wants nothing more than to see his son become happy again. On the surface he is just another crotchety father type, but De Niro gives his scenes more emotional heft than perhaps was originally on the page.

Silver Linings Playbook is as scattered as movies come, but in the typical David O. Russell fashion. He wants to throw as much as he can into this single two-hour package, and it ultimately becomes a funny and poignant film about various people just trying to form meaningful connections and create better lives for themselves. They may do it in really strange ways, but that just adds to their rugged working class charm. The final act is incredibly formulaic—as soon as the stakes are laid out, everyone in the audience could probably guess how it’s going to resolve—but the real joy of this movie is watching these people interact with each other and trying to find some kind of stability in a world that seems intent on creating nothing but chaos.

Grade: B+