Some great new twists on a familiar against-the-odds romantic comedy

Rating: 7/10 (20 June 2013)

Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
A great drama/comedy, both funny and moving, with terrific acting from a terrific cast. What more do you want? Ah, maybe a little more originality, an ending (and a dysfunctional family) that wasn't a twist on "Little Miss Sunshine," something a little less sentimental?
All of these things. And yet, with misgivings intact, the movie is still great in its own way. Part of the reason is some hard, true acting. Both Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence are spot on believable, funny, and fleshed out beyond stereotypes. The rest of the cast, including De Niro as the Cooper's father, are simpler characters and yet the types they play don't quite become stereotypes. In fact, the three men (the dad and the two friends) are superb within their roles.
It might be Lawrence who sets the movie on fire most, even above Coopers volatile, yet tightly bound, performance. Lawrence is a kind of freed version of what Cooper must play, and she's more fun, less troubled perhaps, and utterly optimistic. Which brings up the point of the movie.
Beyond the plot of a pair of young people struggling with common forms of mental illness that require medication but allow for fairly normal lives, there is the larger point of rising up, of being positive, or making things happen by wanting to and following through. This is the moving part, the part that makes you love and identify and even envy the main characters as they show how to succeed within their malaise. It really is a common thing to face a mental flaw that brings your life down, or someone you love. And here is how to deal, how to try to deal.
Yes, this is pure Hollywood, without suggesting its happy ending in any detail. It lacks what someone like, say, Cassavetes would attempt in this situation (and the result would fail to reach a larger audience). But it has some brave aspects, making real a situation that needs some understanding without turning it into unmitigated nightmare.
Director and co-writer David O. Russell has a leaning to films that mix high drama and real human and interpersonal concerns. This might be his best film ("Three Kings" is worth seeing for its mix of serious and comic aspects to war, and "The Fighter" has qualities of sadness and persistence that echo here), and it is one that sets his direction as a more serious, interesting Hollywood director. See this.