Couldn't have been more impressed

Rating: 10/10 (5 January 2014)

This film really helped to restore my faith in cinema features that focus around mental illnesses. I went into the theater hopeful, because of the beautiful and unique cast line up, but still haunted with a lingering cloud of doubt (especially after sitting down with a film like Prozac Nation.) I expected the acting to be favorable, the scenes to be cliché, and maybe sometimes over exaggerated. What I got instead was an amazing chemistry between Lawrence and Cooper, scenes and characters that I could relate too, and a light shined on mental illness and what it is truly like to live with it, or live with somebody who has one.
The film starts out in a mental institute, with Cooper's character having just woke up and beginning his day with his morning routine. It is his last day in the institute, he is finally to be released to his family - who must monitor his every move. He works steadily toward his goal of overcoming his illness as to gain his wife's love back. Along his journey of rehabilitation he meets a woman, (Lawrence's character) who he's known of all of his life, but has never realized just how much they share in common.
It's an exploratory story on the darkness of mental illness, and also the light that can be found despite all of the struggling. It is truly a masterpiece that will make you laugh, it will make you cry, and it will touch home with several. I recommend this film for every person - especially the ones who have no idea what a mental illness is really like.