Love is blind, but only before a marriage.

Rating: 8/10 (18 March 2015)

Silver Linings Playbook was a very pleasant surprise, and I say this with complete and utter understatement. It felt so good watching the film that I'm thinking I could have upped my rating a tad. Among all the movies I've seen recently, this one was the first one, the first American film that felt like a complete product, or work of art. After a golden generation of overachievers, there always comes a lesser generation struggling to find their calling. Their style. David O. Russell - I haven't yet read the book - adapted a love story that reached to me at a time when I wasn't looking for a romantic movie.
I didn't even know the genre of the movie. And I think the threadbare first half of it, lit up whenever Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) appeared, was a successful exercise in making a gritty romantic comedy. I liked how shameless the script was. The words never got vulgar, despite the grimdark subject matter. I knew something interesting was happening before my tired, jaded eyes when Tiffany asked Pat to have sex, and he refuses. We do have a glimpse of Tiffany's bare back, reflected from a mirror. The real flash of brilliance is that the mental illness of the two main characters, does two things. It provides a plausible reason for Tiffany falling in love with Pat. Secondly it provides an opportunity to sidestep the pitfall researching mental ill health for the sake of psychoanalyzing misery, pain, deprivation, alienation, and lust. The decision to say no both to sentimentalism and cynicism meant that the filmmakers simplified their task.
The best decisions are also the simplest. The casting director could have chosen any guy for the role of Danny. Instead they chose Chris Tucker, a guy who is no longer credible in any role he plays, walks by or flies over. Instead of trying to bulk up the lean running time of the film by introducing Tiffany's mum and her own issues, we get only what's important. This is reflected by the empty, renovated garage where Lawrence and Cooper will practice their dance. Lawrence says she thought of putting a ballet barre there. I loved this movie. It felt good watching it. As soon as I realized Lawrence and Cooper will not copulate, and do drugs, I realized I was watching a chick flick, but I forgot the set up quickly and didn't care if it was a feel good movie. Not what I even dreamed of, but it was retrospectively the best film that I could have seen. The characters of Tiffany and Pat are going to live happily ever after. Tiffany says that she didn't want to have children. Smart girl. Hope the review has been helpful to you.