The Fundy Film Society

Silver Linings Playbook

Silver Linings Playbook
Life does not always go according to plan. Pat Solatano (Bradley Cooper) has lost everything—his house, his job, and his wife. He has just been released from a court ordered stint in a mental hospital after severly beating the man he caught cheating with his wife. Diagnosed as bipolar with mood swings, Pat has a difficult journey ahead of him but he is optimistic. With a rallying cry of “Excelsior,” he believes that you can take “all negativity and make it a silver lining.” His outlook is positive and he hopes to rebuild himself to win his wife back.

Pat moves back home with his homemaker mother (Jacki Weaver) and obsessive Philadelphia Eagles fan father (Robert De Niro), who has become a bookie after losing his pension. Pat goes to therapy sessions with Dr. Patel (Anupam Ker), and is reading the syllabus his wife, a public school teacher, has put together for her students in order to understand her better. Refusing to take meds, he still struggles to control his emotions and is unable to filter his thoughts. But he meets his match when he is introduced to Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone), who is still reeling from the death of her husband, and has acted out in her own self-harming ways. Tiffany offers to help Pat reconnect with his wife, but only if he will do something very important for her in return. As their deal plays out, an unexpected bond begins to form between them, and silver linings appear in both of their lives.

Silver Linings Playbook is a family drama, comedy and love story based on the bestselling novel by Matthew Quick, written and directed by David O. Russell (The Fighter).

“While a story about two socially maladjusted individuals might not be the most obviously relatable story, Russell’s surprisingly patient film (which runs a brisk two hours) allows us to understand these characters. Silver Linings isn’t a movie about mental illness, so much as it’s about the struggle many can identify with in trying to find someone who can accept us for all of our quirks and flaws, big and small.Silver Linings Playbook’isn’t the deepest movie you’ll see this year, and ultimately doesn’t say anything new about how men and women relate. But Russell’s film says it in a manner that is a true joy to watch.” (Kevin Jagernauth, The Playlist)

“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 showing unexpected colors. Cooper brings enormous heart to a role that easily might have veered toward the abrasive, and Lawrence shows off natural comic chops that we haven’t seen much from her. There’s self-exposure and risk in both these actors’ work here, which makes for rewarding comedy.” (David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter)