Enjoyable movie that gives you a good laugh and a strangely beautiful love story.

Rating: 8/10 (10 June 2013)

Since the first time I saw the movie poster in the tube station, I'd been feeling all excited about seeing Silver Linings Playbook without having the faintest idea what the movie is about just because of one simple fact: I'm a big fan of the two main actors: Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. I guess we have been all familiar with them since The Hang-over and The Hunger Game climbed up the Box Office chart last year. I can't remember since when I've been going crazy about Bradley (so crazy that I even watched Case 39 just because he had a tiny role in it!) but I fell in love with Jennifer right the moment Katniss appeared on screen – absolutely a hit! However, I didn't think Jennifer and Bradley would look good on screen together – Indeed, I was a bit worried that this combination would not work and I should have just waited for the DVD instead of wasting money on the cinema – not only because they kinda belong to two different generations but also because of their previous choices of characters that are not so harmonious. Turned out I was so wrong! In a nutshell, Silver Linings Playbook is a very enjoyable movie that promises to give you a good laugh and a strangely beautiful love story.
Silver Linings Playbook tells the story of a former teacher, Pat (Bradley Cooper), who returns home after 8 months in a mental hospital for the bipolar disorder. He tries to prove to people that he has got his life back and now he makes attempt to get back to his separated wife who cheats on him with the History teacher that he almost beat to death when he caught them. Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) is a widow of a police officer who still suffers emotional and intimacy problems from her husband's death. She lives at the garage of her parent's house which she turns into a dance studio to practice for a dance competition. The competition is what brings the two characters together as Tiffany offers to help Pat to reach to his wife on one condition that he has to be her dance partner. Generally, the movie emphasizes on family bond, hope, love and happiness as written in the name: Silver linings that appear in both Pat and Tiffany's life when they find each other.
At first I thought it was a psychological movie so I kind of prepared myself for 122 minutes of deep breathing and heavy cloud of serious thoughts. In fact, it was a romantic comedy which was perfect for entertainment on a Friday night even though the romance seems to outweigh the comedy. Anyway, there is still psychological stuff going on as each character offers something very unique and believable to the movie. They all have problems – compulsive-obsessive, bipolar, addition, mood swing but their imperfections are indeed what makes the story perfect. We are not robots. We are flawed. But there is always something different and special in each individual that we can offer the world. Those are the details – the color, the condiments, the diversity that make our life so beautiful, that give us our freedom to be ourselves. Again, I fell in love with Jennifer as Tiffany at first sight as hers is a dark, unstable, disturbed portrayal of a widow who is very straightforward, bold and strangely cool. She has a surprisingly good chemistry with Bradley on screen as I love every single minute they are facing each other – always something very unexpected and enjoyable.
The first few minutes of the movie is probably not very interesting as the comedy does not really work and there is nothing much going on. However, as the story went on, I started to be hooked and before I realized it, I laughed my butt off and felt like I was a character in the movie. It really got me – not just the two main characters and their struggles but also what's going in that world, the family, the life. What makes this movie so likable and highly rated is that it is so believable. There are many situations involving extreme emotions that could have been awkward and fake but the casts pull it off so well. I actually cried towards the end of the movie as the romance starts to blossom. I could see myself in Tiffany and her situation, I felt for her and I was so moved and at the same time disbelieved at the happy ending. Perhaps, It was indeed too good to be true but it was, in the context of the story, the only way out for both of them, Tiffany and Pat; that is Love.
It was also probably the only flaw of the movie as it started to reveal the romantic and comic nature of the genre. The shift was not as persuasive and deep as it should have been and the ending was a bit of a cliché. I think Jennifer was relatively more convincing than Bradley in this but probably because her character mostly acts upon his actions, therefore it's more natural. Whereas Pat's obsession about getting back with his wife should have been developed more so that it would be more reasonable when he switches his affection to Tiffany. However, it was still acceptable and watchable. And overall, it is just a minor drawback of a touching, funny and hugely enjoyable movie.