All 4 acting Oscar nominations

Rating: Null/10 (3 March 2013)

The last movie to have attracted all 4 Oscar nominations in acting was "Reds" (1981) - Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Maureen Stapleton. Only Stapleton won, in the Best Supporting Actress category. I am not trying to compare because I haven't see "Reds". Of the 4 nominations of SLP, there is again only one win: Jennifer Lawrence. But they are all good enough to. It's just a question of the competition.
Of the four characters, three suffer from mental disturbance of various degrees. Pat (Bradley Cooper) has just been discharged from a mental institution, 8 months after savagely beating up his wife Nikki's lover he found in a shower with her. Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a neighbor and friend-of-a-friend is a young widow who has been suffering from mental distress since losing her husband 3 years ago in a traffic accident. She sought release in having sex with 11 people (men and women) in the office. Being fired is just a minor detail and she has since stopped this compulsion. When Pat and Toffany are introduced to each other, it doesn't hit off well, at least on the surface. This is due not so much to their mental health problem as to the fact that they are both outspoken and quick to react. Their rapid cross-fire, unlike what you might expect, reflects logical common sense. The first time a common chord of harmony strikes is when they start comparing notes on the effect of an assortment of medications that they have both experienced at one time or another. Bingo: mutual empathy! Pat's mental condition is not hereditary, as his parent who vouched for his discharge and brought him home is a normal, loving couple. Well, maybe one small qualification: father Pat Sr. (Robert de Niro), a supporter of the Philadelphia Eagles with religious devotion, is banned from their stadium for fighting. Considerate, sensible mother Dolores (Jacki Weaver) seems to be the only normal person in the quartet. There is also a large, interesting support cast including relatives, friends, medical professionals, fellow patients and more. I am not going into detail here. They are all there to be seen in the movie.
The story is on how the two protagonists find each other through a journey of laughs and tears, and not a little craziness. It is also about how the loving parents are able to see the same silver lining the son sees and help him along the way. The specific plot line utilizes Pat's superficial eagerness to win back his estranged wife Nikki (against a minor inconvenience of a restraining order). While on the surface, Tiffany provides a bridge for Pat to reach Nikki, the ironic fact is that Nikki is the bridge through which Pat and Tiffany develop there relationship. You would have seen a lot of rom-com relationships starting with mutual animosity – in fact almost all of them do. There's no exception here, but you would be hard-pressed to find a pair with such excellent chemistry as Cooper and Lawrence.
There is a subplot which is also part of the main plot. Pat Sr. is heavily into betting and for some reason is superstitious that the Eagle's victory hinges on Pat being present at the game (he himself has been banned, remember?) On one fateful Sunday, Pat is torn between two commitments: the aforementioned Eagles game and an eleventh hour practice session for a dancing contest that he and Tiffany have entered. The plan of dividing the day into two halves is shattered when he gets into a brawl before the start of the game, thereby winding up in the police station rather than Tiffany's place. Coming home in a mess, he finds that the Eagles have lost and, together with that, father has lost everything. Then, in rushes Tiffany, yelling at him for breaking his commitment to her. This is one of the best scenes. While all hell seems to break loose, Tiffany turns disaster into a silver lining, a second chance for everybody. Even more important, reconciliation is effected and an affinity cemented between two of the most important three people in his life: Pat Sr. and Tiffany. The third, Dolores, has always been angelic and working silently in the background for everything good.