Strong Showing From The Token Comedy Film Nomination.

Rating: 8/10 (29 January 2013)

This film by David O. Russell is a story of love, loss and bipolar disorder. Initially the film puts a sliver of doubt in your mind, mostly because it has Bradley Cooper, last thing I saw him in was Limitless...so yeah. As well as that we have a co star in Jennifer Lawrence...The Hunger Games...yeah. So I let myself 'meh' before I had seen it. Within fifteen minutes however, I knew I was wrong. Bradley Cooper is the best I have ever seen him, he brilliantly plays a stubborn resilience to his condition as well as being a self confessed sufferer, brilliantly balanced. We see him struggle with the real world and his unfiltered view from a really heartwarming and sympathetic viewpoint. You are laughing with him, not at him, which was important for buying into the character's goals.
Which brings me nicely to Jennifer Lawrence, now with The Hunger Games, I thought she was a little wooden, but then you see her in this and can only assume that she will be better in the later films, and that her performance in the Hunger Games was down to the character progression rather than her. Anyway, in this she is brilliant, I think she outperforms Bradley Cooper, and that is saying something. She is funny, tragic, love struck, strong and vulnerable, a fantastic character. The initial scene's with Tiffany and Pat are really fun to watch.
When you add the star turn from Robert De'Nero as the superstitious father, Pat. Sr, it adds a whole new dimension which eventually becomes entwined with Pat's overall redemption. The interaction with the mother and the father is really nice to watch and brilliantly acted, the more people who are in the scene's during the film, the better. The short snappy dialogue works so well and the family dimension creeps up and becomes all important. It is shot fittingly as well, you feel as if you are part of the drama, watching in the room with them, holding an invested interest.
The overall plot is that both Tiffany and Pat have had tragedies of a separate nature bringing their conditions to the brink. The disorders take over their lives and ruin them to a certain extent, they operate as seemingly fragile creatures living back with their families. Fragile my not be the correct word though, as they are both strong and decisive. Each forces the other to invest in each others problems, but not to the extent they start babbling into each others arms. It is much better than that. Tiffany wants a dance partner, so offers Pat a way to communicate with his ex-wife (who has a restraining order) in exchange. The dancing is rather secondary as you watch the two 'fix each other'. Do not fear, it is not cheesy, in fact it is nice. It brings a smile to your face.
In all this is a really good film, I am glad it got an Oscar Nomination because it deserves it. I think parallels might come from Little Miss Sunshine and Juno, in the way it is a comedy being nominated, but I think this is a much stronger film than those two, in terms of performance and overall quality. It is shot brilliantly with the camera shadowing the characters, the interaction between the family is especially good. You get to see Tiffany and Pat grow and then the dance at the end makes you smile.
I challenge any person with a heart not to thoroughly enjoy this film.
8.5/10
by @KenMcGuinness - http://addocogito.wordpress.com/