5. Silver Linings Playbook

So, unless you've been hiding under a rock, I'm sure you've had five people tell you to go see Silver Linings Playbook. Pulling in a solid 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, it's hard to consider this movie anything other than a solid bet.

This movie is currently playing at the SIFF theater, and... I saw it the first weekend it came out! But, guess what? I saw it again for FREE!

The first thing you should know about my feelings about this movie is that I'm a social worker who works with chronic and severely mentally ill patients.  I also have people in my life who are mentally ill, and I spend a huge portion of my time thinking about the problems surrounding relationships with these people and my clients. That is one of the reasons that I saw this movie immediately when it came out. I really wanted to see how they were treating the issue of mental health.

Other reasons include: (a) I'm a giant Bradley Cooper fan, and have been ever since I was calling him "the cute one" on Alias; (b) David O. Russell directed my all-time favorite movie, I Heart Huckabees; and (c) When it was first released, I was bored, and had already seen every other half-interesting movie in the theaters.

The one big reason that I did NOT want to see it is... sigh ... (ok, don't crucify me, people) I think Robert De Niro is one of the worst actors ever. He is awful. And I know you're going to throw a bunch of Taxi Driver and Cape Fear references at me, but seriously? He has done 30 shit performances for every 1 interesting performance throughout his entire career. He has ZERO comedic timing.  No, wait.  He has NEGATIVE A THOUSAND comedic timing. And, if he's not playing a character with some very overt psychosis, he's really not that interesting. I'm also one of those people who hates Raging Bull. So, sue me.  He hasn't made a good movie since 1996, and even then, he had been just rehashing his old shit in less interesting ways for about a decade.

If I'm being totally honest, the only movie I truly love him in is The King of Comedy. De Niro plays the world's worst stand up comic. HA! He definitely pulls that character off. If you haven't seen that, do yourself a favor and hunt it down. It's so weird. There's a really long scene in which Sandra Bernhardt tries to seduce Jerry Lewis, who has been taped to a rolling chair. It's so hilarious in the most upsetting way. I really love that movie.

Anyway, so, back to Silver Linings Playbook. SURPRISE! I liked De Niro in it! Despite the few truly awful scenes (such as the scene in which Jennifer Lawrence negotiates the absurd "parlay"), De Niro was excellent! He was somewhat subtle. He did really well with what he was given, and there were some really difficult scenes. I thought he pulled it off. I almost thought of his character as a real person. And that's an accomplishment for him, if you ask me.

There were a lot of problems with Silver Linings Playbook. It sort of seemed like two different movies got in a weird car accident and became fused together. But, really, I didn't mind. It was entertaining. Yes, it was watching beautiful, midas-touched people trying to sell that they are actually the kind of people who are chaotic and for whom the acts of getting by in life and maintaining relationships are a constant struggle, but I thought they did a decent job. I thought that Jennifer Lawrence didn't seem to be fully invested in the craziness of her character, but oh well.  She was fine.  Bradley cooper was outstanding, as usual.  That boy can act.

I also applaud the writer of the book and the people who turned it into a movie for showing mental illness as a family issue. Families all over the world struggle with the kinds of problems brought up in this movie. How do I help a person I love who seems to be incapable of receiving my help?  How do I find meaning in my life, when I'm in and out of psychiatric hospitals?  How do I maintain relationships with people who constantly cause me pain?

This movie simultaneously brought up these issues, and also offered slivers of humor, and a half-cup of hope.

If you ask me, they could have ditched the love story.  It seemed a bit forced.  But I think the world would have revolted, because GOD FORBID two people of opposite sexes help each other improve and not fall in love.

I recommend Silver Linings Playbook if you aren't that into dancing (seriously, it's barely part of the movie) and if you are the kind of person who can see an empty mayonnaise jar in 5 scenes in a movie, and never find out why it's there.

Peggy's Rating: Four out of Five stars