The Weinstein Company
122 min., dir. by David O. Russell, with Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, and Robert De Niro

Coming off his biggest mainstream hit (The Fighter), director David O. Russell is back with another dysfunctional family mirroring more of his earlier films such as Spanking the Monkey and Flirting With Disaster. Heavy on charm, Silver Linings Playbook excels in its sly exploration of typical relationships through the eyes of the mentally unstable.

Finally coming home after an eight-month court-ordered stint in a mental health facility stemming from an incident that destroyed his marriage, Pat Solitano Jr. (Bradley Cooper, The Hangover) is ready to get his life back on track. Clearly though, Pat is in no way stable, and everyone knows it. His wife has a restraining order against him, yet he stoutly believes she is waiting for him, as long as he improves himself. Pat keeps his eyes open for signs and opportunities that will show everyone he is doing great and that his life is in order. Knowing his marriage is over, Pat’s friend attempts to set up Pat with his recently widowed sister-in-law, Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games, House at the End of the Street), who is just as mentally unstable as Pat. With everyone around him thinking more about themselves than Pat, he seems to be on his own — until Tiffany opens a road for Pat that leads back to his wife.

Sporting a highly different story, it’s still hard for Silver Linings Playbook not to carry a strange resemblance to Buffalo ’66. In fact, the film feels like Buffalo ’66 presented as the college thesis film of Wes Anderson. Silver Linings Playbook certainly does have a style of its own, though. Light and airy playfulness is layered between uncomfortable madness, as if the two elements naturally belong side by side. The predictable story is saved by a cleverly concocted journey into the insanity of everyday life. Not one character is stable in body or soul, yet their views of life, love, and existence is not different than what “normal” people believe. The irrational day-to-day circus we all experience is scarily similar to the bipolar worries of Pat Solitano, except most people simply don’t act out on those feelings.

Silver Linings Playbook houses a pretty stacked cast that highlights some wonderfully quirky performances, with Chris Tucker playing the most subdued character of his career, even though his character is emphatically cheerful, joyous, and paranoid. Robert De Niro also turns out the best nationalistically human performance he’s delivered in a long time. I’ve seen so many others already rave about Jennifer Lawrence’s performance, claiming she should be handed the Oscar without even nominating any other actresses this year. She plays the part well, but a claim she deserves an award for it seems a bit of a stretch for what I experienced. No performance in Silver Linings Playbook feels award-worthy, but certainly Bradley Cooper shines over everyone in the film. Cooper displays his typical charm, but it seeps out from the cracks in a destroyed man who does everything he can to show the world that he’s fine. As Pat, Cooper flies off the handle, but watching him try to reel it all back in is fairly heartbreaking.

There are films about the crazy girl helping the shy guy break out of his shell, or the nutty guy impressing the stuck-up rich girl, and there are already other films about the two strange souls finding each other. Silver Linings Playbook fantastically unfolds the idea that anyone involved in the game of love (in regards to any relationship) is just as crazy as these characters. It’s the film’s unique take on that idea that separates it from those other films and makes it enjoyable on so many levels.

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Matthew Schuchman is the founder and film critic of Movie Reviews From Gene Shalit’s Moustache and the contributing film writer for IPaintMyMind.