Good but flawed

Rating: 7/10 (2 December 2012)

'Silver Linings Playbook' is a film directed by David O. Russell about a man with bi-polar disorder who is trying to get his life back on track after suffering a mental breakdown upon discovering his wife was having an affair.
The story is a bit bizarre with Pat (Bradley Cooper) befriending Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) who also suffered a mental breakdown after the death of her husband. Pat agrees to enter a dance competition with Tiffany in order to send a letter to his wife via Tiffany to try and re- build their relationship. The first half of the film seems a bit misleading. It portrays bi-polar disorder was just being the same as someone being a little bit odd or quirky. I don't think that they take the disorder seriously enough – for a film that a lot of people have claimed will win big at the Oscars in 2013, I don't think it will; it has missed the point with mental illness. The plot itself moves quite smoothly and I was never bored whilst watching this. The second half is better; it becomes a lot funnier and seems a lot more light-hearted. The plot is good but the acting can sometimes let it down.
Bradley Cooper is quite bad; he has obviously done very little research for his role and has clearly read a paragraph on bi-polar disorder noticing that, under stress, they can shout and panic – there's a scene in the film where he is screaming and his eyes are blank with no emotion. This meant that the scene came across as funny and people in the audience were actually laughing during a scene that was written to be a scene of heartbreak. Jennifer Lawrence was excellent here; she portrayed her character perfectly and provided humour where it was meant to be. She has obviously done a lot of research for her role and she has had a fantastic career in 2012 which can only get better. Chris Tucker was a surprisingly positive addition to this cast; he died not annoy me at all in this film which was a huge development. David O. Russell has done a great job with the characters in this film. Robert De Niro is another great supporting character here; his role as Pat's father who has some form of OCD is just brilliant and he really seems to have portrayed it just right. This is his best performance in quite a while and I hope his films get even better.
Overall, I liked this film; there were just a lot of flaws within it. It has some good comedy, some great performances and is a fairly good film to watch. If you're a fan of Jennifer Lawrence, you will like this film as it is yet another film that would have failed if it wasn't for her (see House at the End of the Street). This film is worth a watch but I don't see it doing well at the Oscars – I hope not anyway.