So much better than a 5!

Rating: 7/10 (20 January 2014)

I've heard some harsh criticism of David O. Russell and his direction of several movies lately. This had me expecting this movie to be a 5 but it is so much more than that. The writing and the direction are both incredible. David O. Russell had his hands on both. The David O. Russell movies I have seen so far have all been very good and I am not sure I agree with some of the criticism I have heard lately. This movie is an example of how great he is at taking something written and adapting it into a well crafted, witty screenplay. Then he translates that onto the screen and achieves a movie that I will not soon forget.
I will get the few negatives out of the way first and create a review positive / negative / positive sandwich.
The major problem I had with this movie is John Ortiz and quite frankly that isn't even close to the next worst part. Ortiz plays the character of Ronnie. Ronnie is a man who is stressed out because his wife Veronica (Julia Stiles) demands that her life be perfect and that she gets whatever she desires or he is afraid that she will leave him. Veronica's harsh character fuels Ronnie's stress to the point of needing someone to vent to so that he will not freak out in front of her. This is why Ronnie ends up venting to Pat (Bradley Cooper). Ronnie is a clown. He is distracting and tries way too hard to be funny. Ortiz's delivery of every line is quite annoying and I am not sure why David O. Russell let this Jim Carrey-esk overacting performance pollute what could have been a near perfect presentation from just about every character on screen. It may have even been highlighted as a result of him being surrounded by a group of actors nailing it in every scene. Such a shame.
The only other issue I had with the movie was some plot holes and cheesy moments but those were easily overlooked due to the strength of the acting and the story as a whole.
You can tell a good script by how information is delivered to the viewer and Silver Linings Playbook was one of those movies that everyone should see just for that aspect of it. The way they deliver information about characters and who has certain relationships with others isn't by saying "you're my dad" or "I'm your brother" but it is cleverly disguised by psychiatric evaluation in therapy of Pat. As the movie progresses, you learn more and more information about these troubled characters. Each character has their own issues and development but each character needs the other characters to be able to grow, cope with tough situations and develop further. Lastly, the comedy in this movie is dark and at times subtle but it worked so well for me as I was laughing at many of the situations each character was involved in.
I loved this movie even with its few flaws. It was great to see Chris Tucker on the big screen again as he made his triumphant return. This is a great date movie as it has sports and cheesy moments all wrapped up in one package. Just don't watch this one with a new relationship as there are some aspects that are not first date friendly.