Everything in the movie is about mental breakdown, and slowly and steadily, and quite comically you make sense out of it. You relate to the method in the madness.

Rating: 8/10 (7 May 2013)

Its a stressed out world indeed. And we are all stuffed inside this pressure cooker, dreading from the fact that we might grab too much of that mid flab, frantically transferring the balance on that god damned credit card to flash that Steve damned i Phone.
We have husbands and wives cheating on each other while they had acknowledged their unconditional love just the night before. We are super informed and more aware, except for two things. A substantial lot of us could be "undiagnosed bipolar" or a "superstitious OCD".
I know you might have never realized that, but that's what this movie does to you apart from making you marvel at the creative genius of the script writer, the director, and the acting cast.
There are Hollywood movies with a pent up storyline, and compelling and dramatic performances jazzed up with an out of world graphical realism. They most certainly come with the wow effect.
And then once in a while you have a farm fresh movie with a simple story but crazy characters. An Indian psychiatrist (Anupam Kher) preaching his patient about the importance of Excelsior and medication. The protagonist patient (Bradley Cooper) working on his strategy for his previously undiagnosed bipolar disorder. Jennifer Lawrence as a self proclaimed and widely acknowledged slut with her own bipolar and medication to take care of. Robert De Niro in what he does best but with an added superstitious OCD as he is out of job and has been betting his balls off in American football.
Behind these characters is Bradleys mentally challenged desire to get back in shape and win his wife back who has been remorseless about getting hotter under the couples hot shower with another man. Jennifer is the one worth her salt by being the only one in the movie to confront this mental craziness with her overpowering bipolar.
When you have a once in a while farm fresh movie where everything is about mental breakdown, and you are watching it and slowly and steadily making a sense out of it. This, not through a nerve wrecking and nail biting storyline, not with a slapstick overtone, but through madly interwoven edgy characters. When you love it because you understand and relate to the method in the madness even if its remote. It is then you realize the creative genius of Silver Linings Playbook.
The movie is by far one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. Its right there in the league of The Tao of Steve, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Darjeeling Limited, Jeff Who Lives at Home, and Our Idiot Brother.
It's only a lot crazier and a lot more better. It's my five finger and whole palm blessed movie.
Indiekaleidoscope