Buffalo 66 re-set in Philadelphia with many more words

Rating: 7/10 (21 January 2013)

Romantic? Definitely. Bizarre? Most definitely. Predictable ending? Sure. Comedy? Not the rollicking type, but in the classic sense of a non-tragedy with some amusing touches and incidents, it qualifies. Great acting? I'll take issue with consensus here - I thought Jennifer Lawrence was electric. I thought Bradley Cooper showed a bit too much physical self-control during his intense bi-polar episodes but was otherwise very good. DeNiro seemed to overlay his performance on Gazzara's in Buffalo 66.
Why do I compare this film to Buffalo 66? You have an off-center protagonist coming home post-confinement with unfinished business and a chip on his shoulder. You have a dancer with some emotional damage of her own as the lead female (albeit not held hostage) against a blue- collar backdrop of economic depression and local sports hysteria.
This film is less misanthropic than Buffalo 66 and has some brighter characters, making it a lot less dark overall - but many of the themes are similar - as is the unlikely romantic resolution.
One major difference - Buffalo 66 nailed Buffalo - felt like buffalo during the week I spent there. I spent 10 years in Philadelphia. First, I'm unclear whether this was supposed to take place in Italian South Philadelphia or Llanarch (a suburb just outside west Philly), but the roads where he ran seemed much too wide for either and the houses and front yards were much too wide as well. Parking was too spacious. They talk about the 76 (which everyone calls the Schuylkill - or various local take-offs - school-kill, sure-kill, etc.). It passes by South Philly, but nowhere near Llanarch (they show a Llanarch Diner). DeNiro and his betting "friend" seem right in character for South Philly. None of the other family members look or act the type particularly. Julia Stiles' character (sharp performance in a thankless role), family, and home with lawn seem more like Llanarch but the areas shown in most of the running sequences don't match. Then the Indian bus and the parking lot brawl seemed way too staged and forced. Unlikely that just getting off the bus - a bus they've seen before and had a friend of one of their group on it - would precipitate such a brawl. So, for those who trumpet how realistic this movie was, I found the depiction of Philly and its dysfunctional sports fanatics to be totally off. Invincible did a much better job of depicting these folk as they are. The story in Invincible was more credible also. I lived there during the Vince Papale years.
All that said, I generally wouldn't get so deep into a romantic comedy but this one is considered very special and ground-breaking in its characterizations. It is a good movie and does an acceptable job to me of characterizing one person with one manifestation of bi-polar disorder, his friends, and his sports-crazy dad for me to enjoy. I'd have been interested in learning a bit more about Lawrence's character's post-traumatic nymphomania and its treatment since this too can be a real dysfunction but that was glossed over and I only accepted it because of the fire in the belly Lawrence displayed. Her subtle traits and occasional physical ticks lent credibility to me.
So, overall, I enjoyed this somewhat Hollywood-ized and somewhat clichéd but still highly thoughtful and enjoyable movie. Certainly, I've found many less engaging ways to spend two hours in a movie theater in the past 10 years.