For me, David O. Russell’s films tend to be a bit flat or just missing the mark. Like he wants to be Wes Anderson but doesn’t have the genius or spark. But that feeling hasn’t stopped me from enjoying some of his work. There’s not a thing in the world wrong with Three Kings, with a couple of inspired moments, to boot. And Silver Linings Playbook, which is best understood as pure romantic comedy, is almost as good.
We meet Pat (Bradley Cooper) during his stay in a Pennsylvania psychiatric facility, where he has been committed after catching his wife Nikki in the shower with a co-worker (and not just washing her back; and while a CD of Pat and Nikki’s wedding song is playing in the hallway) and subsequently nearly beating the man to death. He is somewhat obsessively practicing what he will say to get Nikki back, and that he’s in need of psychiatric care is clear.
Before long (i.e., in film time; his stay in the facility is eight months) Pat is back home with mom (Jacki Weaver) and dad (Robert De Niro), and in Pat Sr. we see the OCD and tendency toward low-grade violence that have been the template for Pat Jr., who through therapy has come to understand he is a bipolar personality type who has been “white-knuckling” it all these years. It’s been a hard road to hoe, but painfully slowly but surely Pat is starting to develop a coping strategy.
Because Silver Linings Playbook is quite unabashedly a romantic comedy—even if in a refreshingly non-Hollywood sense (think High Fidelity), there is zero suspense regarding whether Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) will be a positive part of that strategy. She herself is a troubled soul, but it’s just the kind of troubled that, when partnered with her brutal frankness and considerable beauty, hook Pat from the moment they meet. And vice versa.
Because Silver Linings Playbook is not compelling in a technical sense (I can’t fathom what Russell did to deserve a Best Director nomination; and that the film garnered a Best Editing nomination is a joke), it can only succeed if it delivers on two counts: 1) Are the plot turns charming enough, even though we know exactly where we’re heading? and 2) Do we care about the characters and buy their relationships?
On Count 1, I the jury (and that’s the way it is with art: each of us is a jury of one) find the film inconsistent. Several plot developments seem artificial. Why was Pat and Nikki’s wedding song playing in the hallway while she was doing her co-worker in the shower? Apparently only so “My Cherie Amour” could be a convenient signal to the audience regarding Pat’s problems coping and the progress he makes. Similarly, how does Tiffany gain entry to what she herself says is a big dance competition, despite not having had a partner when she got invited? So we can have the big, fun, romantic finale, of course!
But on Count 2, Silver Linings Playbook is an unqualified success. Yes, that Cooper, Lawrence, De Niro, and Weaver all have Oscar nominations makes it seem like 2012 must have been terrible year for film (or at least it would if we didn’t already know that more often than not the Oscars lionize second-tier work), but all are solid in their own rights, as well as evincing good chemistry with each other in all their combinations. De Niro may never again reach the heights he’s hit—not much of an insult, since he may be film’s all-time greatest actor—but he remains a joy to watch, even better at the subtleties than the over-the-top. He and Weaver seem like an old married couple who understand each other; and both perfectly play their roles as parents who don’t fully understand how to reach Pat but really mean the best.
Naturally, the film hinges on our believing in Pat and Tiffany and their feelings for each other, and Cooper and Lawrence succeed completely in creating characters you can’t help but pull for as they work their way toward truly loving each other, baggage, warts, and all.
Silver Linings Playbook is way overhyped, but that is the fault of critics, not the film itself. If you’re looking for a mildly quirky romantic comedy with enough emotional (and even psychological) similitude to keep you invested, going to see this film is good playcalling.
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