Meandering manipulative mayhem.

Rating: 5/10 (8 February 2013)

If you are going to make a comedy romance where the lead suffers from violent bi-polar disorder then it might not be a bad idea to make sure the headliner has kind blue eyes and sensitive features ala Bradley Cooper to keep it light and get you over the rough patches as he does in Silver Linings Play Book. Cooper who may well be the 21st century version of Jimmy Stewart does a commendable job of doing so but director David O Russell has a hard time getting his recipe of dash's of other films (Footloose, Last Tango, Saturday Night Fever) to reach comic heights because of the three hundred pound gorilla in the room, the illness with its violent overtones as a comedy launch pad.
After teacher Pat Solitano finds his wife handing out favors to a fellow educator he goes nuclear and nearly beats him to death. Institutionalized for eight months his mother signs him out against advice and the volatile young man heads home to Philly to win his wife back. It doesn't take long for Pat Jr. to act out again with a half a dozen infractions that should send him right back to the bin but it seems the enormous patience of friends and the community (Philly mind you) is full of forgive and forget. Enlisting Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence)to help in his crusade he grudgingly agrees to enter a dance competition with her. With issues of her own the two form an abrasive alliance.
Silver Linings breaks from the box fast with loose cannon Pat's unpredictability and unsettling behavior direction yet to be established but once it settles into it's comedy slot it is little more than a hyper When Harry met Sally. Lawrence and Cooper have some nice go rounds but outcome is telegraphed well in advance and the humor to help get us there runs its course fast.
To give the film its energy Russell shoots most of it in disorienting close-up with a fair amount of middle of the street restaurant and home scenes that lack verisimilitude in their drama or comedy edge with their sarcastic punch lines.
As Pat's parents Jackie Weaver spends most of the film welling up and wringing her hands while Robert DiNero as his bookie dad plays it with a little more intensity than his Focker dad. It is a terrible waste as we see glimmers of the greatness that was Di Nero in scenes played as straight drama instead of comedy between father and son may have made for a far better film with lighter box office returns. Russell remains intent however in coming up with "the feel good comedy of the year" with a touch of edge but Silver Linings Playbook double bladed topic, silly comedy out of serious illness is ultimately a dull swipe at it.