Crazy brilliant love.

Rating: 9/10 (3 February 2013)

David O'Russell's new movie Silver Linings Playbook could possibly become a classic some day. It's got the kind of mood, story, and performances that nobody will forget for a long time. It's a funny and charming romantic comedy that happens to be the best romantic comedy in recent years, thanks in part to the bizarre chemistry (does that make sense? It will) of the two leads.
Bradley Cooper is better than ever as Pat, a bipolar guy who has just been released from the loony bin. He was sent there for beating the crap out of his wife's mister. But he stills loves her, and he is trying desperately to win her back. Then he meets Tiffany (the extraordinary Jennifer Lawrence), a bizarre widow who happens to be the solution to his problem.
Pat needs to communicate with his wife, but due to a restraining order that is difficult. Tiffany tells him that if he participates with her in a dancing competition, then she will deliver messages to his wife. In the meanwhile, Pat is having some family issues with his father Pat Sr. (Robert DeNiro in his best performance in years), and his father needs him in order to save his pension (I won't spoil why).
O'Russell's previous film The Fighter was about family, and at the heart of this one it is too. Apparently Robert DeNiro was in tears when he read this script. That sounds horrifying. Like that movie, Silver Linings Playbook is special because of its performances. The stand-out in that one, if I had to pick one, would be Christian Bale. The stand-out here (it's hard to pick) would be Jennifer Lawrence.
Lawrence, who is a front runner at the Oscars, is better than ever here. She's a knockout. She's wild, feisty, and incredibly sexy. Every scene with her and Cooper are the best. But the best moment in the movie (besides their sexy dance scene) is when her and Robert DeNiro have a hilarious confrontation.
SLP is the year's best comedy, and one of the years best movies. It's as if Cooper and O'Russell have completely changed their train of thought here and decided to bring us something special. It takes those romantic Katherine Heigl rom-coms and puts them in the corner of shame. Woody Allen wouldn't even write something like this, even though Vicky Cristina Barcelona was kind of wild. SLP is one of the year's most entertaining movies. See it before Oscar night.
A-