Movie Review - Silver Linings Playbook

Title: Silver Linings Playbook

Director: David O. Russell

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver.

Released: 2012

Rating: ★★★★1/2


Okay, I already know that I am a little late and everyone and their mumma has already seen and reviewed this movie, but hey, I just thought why the hell not?

Silver Linings Playbook was released in the US and a bunch of other countries way before Australia. It's actually still showing in cinemas over here. That it sometimes the downside of being so far away!

Anyway, the movie surrounds the life of Pat Jr. (Bradley Cooper). Pat has just been released from hospital after 8 months of receiving treatment for his bipolar.

Pat is determined to turn his life around and in order to do that, he needs his wife Nikki back. But there's only one tiny problem.. she has a restraining order against him, as Pat attacked the man who was having an affair with Nikki, nearly killing him, and resulting in Pat's treatment at the hospital.

In comes Tiffany; a young and beautiful woman who is suffering from a mental disorder similar to Pat's, after the death of her husband and the loss of her job.
Through Tiffany, Pat finds a way to communicate with Nikki, but only at a price. He must compete in a dance contest as Tiffany's partner, and in order to do that, must attend the many rehearsals held at Tiffany's house in the weeks leading up to the contest.

During this time period the two start to form a strange bond, and impact each other in ways they could never have imagined.


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This movie is seriously worth the hype. I was completely in love with the characters and the storyline from the word go. It was fantastically made and I can definitely see why it has won the awards it has. Bradley Cooper's performance was incredible. It was so believable, I am crushed he didn't win the Oscar he was nominated for, as he definitely deserved it.
Of course we can't forget Jennifer Lawrence, whose performance was extremely well deserving of the Best Female Performance Oscar. I loved the way she portrayed Tiffany, it was so raw and real.

A huge highlight for me was Robert De Niro's character Pat Sr. Pat Sr. was not only trying to help his son get through his mental illness, but was battling one of his own. Although the situation was very emotional, it was also extremely comical at times, which added a real light-heartedness to the movie, and created that perfect balance.
Australia's own Jacki Weaver also did a fantastic job of portraying the mother in the middle of a completely dysfunctional family!
The camera angels were also quite interesting, with many effective close ups which helped you to really understand what it was all like from Pat's point of view.

Overall this movie was extremely enjoyable and had a clever and unique script! I rate this four and a half stars, and would definitely recommend it to the small majority of people who haven't already seen it! :)

-Bee