Since the flight from SFO to Hong Kong was a near fourteen hour flight, I decided to spend one-seventh of the flight watching The Silver Linings Playbook starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. This review is considerably late, especially to the time The Silver Linings Playbook came out (November 16, 2012), but many people still do not know too much about this movie, even after its activity in the Academy Awards.
~~~~~~~SPOILER SUMMARY!~~~~~~~
The movie started, in my opinion, odd. There was very little background on what was going on. When we see Pat (Cooper) he is receiving his pills from a nurse at the mental facility he is in, he secretly is spitting them out as he walks away. Pat is released from the facility as long as he resides with his parents Delores (Jacki Weaver) and Pat Sr. (Robert De Niro). Returning home, Pat realizes that his father is illegally bookmarking to start a restaurant after losing his job. Pat also realizes that his wife, Nikki, had obtained a restraining order against him and moved out of town. To put his life back on track, Pat starts a "silver linings" plan not only to get Nikki back, but also control his bipolar personality.
At a trip to the court mandated therapist, it is revealed that Pat has bipolar disorder and he discusses his rage to Dr. Patel (Anupam Kher). When entering the office, Pat freaks out in the lobby after hearing a song. He reveals to Dr. Patel that listening to "My Cherie Amour" by Stevie Wonder enrages him because it was his wedding song and the song that was playing the day he found Nikki having an affair with another man in the shower. At that moment, Pat nearly beats the man to death and is the reason he was in the mental facility to detain and treat his bipolar disorder. Pat describes the plan he wishes to reconcile with Nikki to Dr. Patel, unknowing that he will be starting his plan when he meets his friend Ronnie (John Ortiz) for dinner.
Pat arrives to Ronnie's house with a Philadelphia Eagles jersey, which does not impress Ronnie's wife. At the dinner, he meets Tiffany Maxwell, Ronnie's sister-in-law. Strangely, the two bond due to their shared neuroses. Abruptly, Tiffany leaves and request that Pat walks her home. As they walk, Pat realizes that Tiffany can deliver a letter to Nikki. Tiffany accepts, but only under the condition that Pat was to partner with her in an upcoming dance competition. Pat accepts, thinking that participating in this completion would further push himself to reconcile with Nikki. During one of their dance practices, Tiffany gives pat a typed up reply from Nikki. Things are going well until Pat Sr. asks his son to go to an Eagles game that conflicts with Pat Jr.'s training schedule.
Pat Jr. goes to the game, skipping out on practice with Tiffany. At the game, Pat sees Dr. Patel and and that Tiffany and Pat Jr. will receive at least a 5 out of 10 on their dance competition. Pat Jr. backs out of the competition with these conditions, but is persuaded when Tiffany tricks him to thinking that Nikki will be there. After isolating himself from everyone else, Pat Jr. realizes the letter was typed by Tiffany with the identical phrase "reading the signs."
seems to have an amazing time until he meets a group of thugs that made racist remarks toward Dr. Patel and his Indian group. Enraged, Pat gets into a fight with these thugs and is detained by the police. Pat Sr. is at home enraged because the Eagles lost and that Pat is spending too much time with Tiffany, who he thinks is unlucky. Tiffany storms into the Solitano household, lecturing that every time Pat Jr. spent time with her, Philadelphia sports teams would win. She points out that this is how she "reads the signs" and sparks Pat Sr. to make a parlay with his gambling partner. Convinced that Tiffany was good luck, Pat Sr. bets that the Eagles will win their game against the Dallas Cowboys,
At the competition, Tiffany is horrified to find that Nikki is in attendance and decides to go to the bar and drink. Pat Jr. finds the drunken Tiffany moments before they must perform. During their routine, a special move that they have prepared goes wrong when Tiffany gets stuck onto Pat for too long. Through the odd performance, Pat's parents await their score, as the Eagles had beaten the Cowboys that night. Adrenaline pumps though their bloods when the first three of four judges reveal their scores to be sub-five, however the final judge gave them a 5.4, just enough for a perfect 5 score.
Shortly, Pat seeks Nikki from the crowd and whispers into her ear. As Tiffany sees this and storms off, Pat runs off to seek her, but he is already too late. Pat finds Tiffany on the street and tells her that he knew she forged the letter, but also reveals that he loves her. In the final scenes of the movie, Pat and Tiffany become a couple while Pat Sr. opens his restaurant with the parlay money he has won
~~~~End Spoilers/ Summary~~~~
Wow! That was a summary! I really try to limit the length of the summaries but sometimes I just can't help it. Enough of my rambling, I think it's time for my review!
I was skeptical about this movie at first. I am a huge Jennifer Lawrence fan and found a lack-of-Jennifer-Lawrence for the beginning of the film. I tried not to use this point to derail this movie too much though. Still a little doubtful with the lack of Jennifer Lawrence, my opinions started to change as the movie progressed. I was confused at the beginning because of the lack of information, but personally, I like these type of movies because it makes me want to put the puzzle pieces together.
Overall, I thought the movie was magnificent. The movie itself doesn't come on as a large-scale production like Les Miserables, but is a good "feel good" movie to watch whenever you're free. Though the plot does not particularly stand out to me, the acting was what stood out to me. I may be biased because of my love for Jennifer Lawrence, but her performance alone does not account for the overall performance of the cast. Cooper and De Niro's performances particularly stood out to me outside of Lawrence's. Interestingly enough, the Silver Linings Playbook gave me a sense of wonder, anticipation, and laughter.
Applaud or Veto?
Not only is the Silver Linings Playbook have a 92% "certified fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but also a 9/10 in my book. I definitely encourage anyone to watch this movie on a casual movie night. It's not a family type movie (as it is rated R), but a nice young adult or couples movie. It's one of the nicer, quality films that I have seen lately that have really engaged me into it.
 |
| Pat and Tiffany in a diner where they talk about Nikki and how they will deliver the letter, but things shake up when Pat implies that Tiffany is crazier than him |
Pat arrives to Ronnie's house with a Philadelphia Eagles jersey, which does not impress Ronnie's wife. At the dinner, he meets Tiffany Maxwell, Ronnie's sister-in-law. Strangely, the two bond due to their shared neuroses. Abruptly, Tiffany leaves and request that Pat walks her home. As they walk, Pat realizes that Tiffany can deliver a letter to Nikki. Tiffany accepts, but only under the condition that Pat was to partner with her in an upcoming dance competition. Pat accepts, thinking that participating in this completion would further push himself to reconcile with Nikki. During one of their dance practices, Tiffany gives pat a typed up reply from Nikki. Things are going well until Pat Sr. asks his son to go to an Eagles game that conflicts with Pat Jr.'s training schedule.
 |
| Pat and Tiffany rehearse their dance number |
seems to have an amazing time until he meets a group of thugs that made racist remarks toward Dr. Patel and his Indian group. Enraged, Pat gets into a fight with these thugs and is detained by the police. Pat Sr. is at home enraged because the Eagles lost and that Pat is spending too much time with Tiffany, who he thinks is unlucky. Tiffany storms into the Solitano household, lecturing that every time Pat Jr. spent time with her, Philadelphia sports teams would win. She points out that this is how she "reads the signs" and sparks Pat Sr. to make a parlay with his gambling partner. Convinced that Tiffany was good luck, Pat Sr. bets that the Eagles will win their game against the Dallas Cowboys,
At the competition, Tiffany is horrified to find that Nikki is in attendance and decides to go to the bar and drink. Pat Jr. finds the drunken Tiffany moments before they must perform. During their routine, a special move that they have prepared goes wrong when Tiffany gets stuck onto Pat for too long. Through the odd performance, Pat's parents await their score, as the Eagles had beaten the Cowboys that night. Adrenaline pumps though their bloods when the first three of four judges reveal their scores to be sub-five, however the final judge gave them a 5.4, just enough for a perfect 5 score.
 |
| Tiffany is furious when she finds out that Pat stood her up for the Eagles game |
~~~~End Spoilers/ Summary~~~~
Wow! That was a summary! I really try to limit the length of the summaries but sometimes I just can't help it. Enough of my rambling, I think it's time for my review!
I was skeptical about this movie at first. I am a huge Jennifer Lawrence fan and found a lack-of-Jennifer-Lawrence for the beginning of the film. I tried not to use this point to derail this movie too much though. Still a little doubtful with the lack of Jennifer Lawrence, my opinions started to change as the movie progressed. I was confused at the beginning because of the lack of information, but personally, I like these type of movies because it makes me want to put the puzzle pieces together.
 |
| Pat and Tiffany celebrate after they receive a "perfect" 5 |
 |
| The popular dancing scene seen in the trailer |
Not only is the Silver Linings Playbook have a 92% "certified fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but also a 9/10 in my book. I definitely encourage anyone to watch this movie on a casual movie night. It's not a family type movie (as it is rated R), but a nice young adult or couples movie. It's one of the nicer, quality films that I have seen lately that have really engaged me into it.
No comments:
Post a Comment