A heartwarming, pleasant movie with excellent lead performances and script

Rating: 7/10 (23 December 2018)

David O Russell just makes immensely fun, watchable movies. Silver Linings Playbook is a realistic and empathetic consideration of living with mental illness, and Cooper and Lawrence make the movie a success with excellent performances. From the first scenes, we empathize with Pat's day-to-day struggles and root for him to succeed. Cooper does a phenomenal job in showing the emotional swings and challenges to control himself that Pat goes through as a bipolar person. The romance and plot may be a bit forced and predictable, but Lawrence brings necessary depth to Tiffany's character. It's nothing earth shattering, but the script and performances allow the audience to really connect with and root for these unusual, struggling characters, and as I've come to expect from Russell, you get a somewhat traditional movie executed well that's just enjoyable to watch.