A Director Under the Influence...

Rating: 6/10 (10 January 2017)

"Silver Lining Playbook" got Oscar nominations in the four acting categories for the first time after three decades, succeeding Warren Beatty's "Reds", Hal Ashby's "Coming Home" and Sidney Lumet's "Network". As far as acting goes, this is nowhere near what these movies showcased, but I won't make a commentary on the acting, let's just check the film's summary. Just read it again and get back to this review.
I'll tag this review with the 'spoiler' mention anyway, but seriously, isn't the spoiler obvious from the start? If there's anything Woody Allen and romantic comedies have taught us, it is that anyone with an ex-wife will end up meeting a stranger hell, this is already given away in the summary. If we don't get that Patrick (Bradley Cooper) and Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) will be together, we haven't seen enough movies in our lives. That said, I have nothing against predictability as long as it is satisfyingly conducted and occasionally creates a few original situations. I found none in "Silver Lining Playbook", not that I didn't enjoy it to some degree, but the 'masterpiece' labeling and awards' nods sort of heightened my expectations.
I guess the mental troubles of many protagonists and the way it raised "awareness" about the obsessions that can damage people's lives, (such as anger problems, compulsive habits, gambling, sexual infidelities etc.) are so many positive elements that speak in favor of David O' Russell. But why are critics pretending that he "pioneered" something as if "Ordinary People", the heartbreaking chronicles about a family stricken by grief and trauma or a masterpiece like John Cassavetes "A Woman Under the Influence", never existed. That movie alone should put to shame any attempts of comparison. That Lawrence won an Oscar and not Rowlands is perhaps more maddening than any situation in "Playbook". Lawrence was good, but a few emotional outbursts don't equate the realistic embodiment of craziness, and neither does saying that you love sex with that "sultry mysteriousness" and shadowy eyes.
There is a sort of half-serious half-awkward vibes the directing constantly tries to exude and while it doesn't fail to provide some emotional depth, it just rings false during these moments meant to be crucial. Take the Halloween date: the writing is so cringe worthy it is painful. First of all, all through the film, Pat insists about a reconciliation with Nikki, "Nikki this, Nikki that...", so it is plain obvious that he won't be cured as long as he's obsessed with Nikki. It works to the point of annoying insistence, thrown at our face like the indicator that he's not cured yet. And while there's obvious chemistry with Tiffany, the date is ruined for the stupidest reason: he believes she's crazier than he is on the basis of the sexual experiences she revealed. I couldn't believe he would believe it. Her reaction was naturally anger but fake as it was induced by a fake situation.
And don't get me started on the ending, Pat finally got over Nikki and needed to tell her so, but couldn't have he avoided giving Tifanny the wrong impression? No, because we needed the obligatory romantic chase on the sidewalk. Best Picture contender? Gimme a break!
Or I must have a problem with O' Russell but while I can see the well-meaning intent behind each of his movies, they always leave me cold. I would moderate this feeling with "Silver Lining Playbook" because here and there, there were some moments where my empathy rose toward some characters, and that includes Jennifer Lawrence and Jacki Weaver, who played the mother, but most of the time, I was wondering why this movie is elevated on a pedestal of "eye-opening masterpiece about mental disorders affecting a suburban family", while in the best case, it's got the appeal of made-for-TV afternoon dramas, only with a star-studded cast. De Niro is one of my favorite actors, but even an A-lister like him can't redeem the directing, all through the first act, I was wondering why David O' Russell was over-stuffing his scenes with hand-held camera moments.
Sure, it is to accentuate the whole confusion and mental chaos but I could only feel noise and dizziness. There was no build-up to make even this confusion emotionally affecting. It comes at such early points of the film that you don't even know who's crazy or who's not, so the emotional mess is an effect rather than a plot-driver. The second altercation between Cooper and De Niro works better, because we know them and their back-stories, well enough to share their pain. But these moments of strong emotional resonance aren't enough to compensate for the relative emptiness and predictability of the story and the preposterous plot points such a random bet supposed to solve all the family problems and a dance contest that was obviously injected to provide some visual escapism for the film's climax.
Otherwise, there was nothing that felt genuinely and powerfully realistic in that film. Awkward doesn't equal realistic except when it's handled by a director who doesn't try to imitate other directors. Whenever I see O' Russell, I got vibes from his 'masters' and after Scorsese in "American Hustle", here it is Cassavetes, but speaking of him, just go watch Rowlands' performance in "A Woman Under the Influence" and tell me that "Playbook" is as powerful. De Niro's crying was effective but it didn't break my heart as Donald Sutherland did in the climactic confrontation or the last ten seconds of "Ordinary People" and he didn't even get an Oscar nod for that.
Sorry for all thel titles' dropping, but if I can use this review to give publicity to real masterpieces that powerfully dealt with family trauma and troubles; it will all be worth it.