The problem with movie posters is that they exist solely to make you say, “I really want to see that!” Oh, big deal, you might say — that’s just the nature of advertising. Still, I would maintain that movie posters more often than not commit the crime of false advertising. Take for example Silver Linings Playbook, whose poster depicts an attractive man and woman (actors Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence), both with flawless complexions and sparkling eyes. His genial smile and her mischievous smirk might lead you to think you’re in for another one of those quirky, “dark” romantic comedies populated by lovable oddball characters who alternate between wallowing in their trivial, overanalyzed angst and slinging out bizarre one-liners only a hipster could love.
But you would be wrong. Silver Linings Playbook opens as thirties-ish Patrick Solitano, Jr. (Cooper) is going to live with his parents after fulfilling a court order to spend eight months in a mental hospital. As we watch Pat have sessions with his therapist, bond with his dad (Robert De Niro) over the Philadelphia Eagles football team and otherwise strive to once again piece his life together, we learn why he had been committed in the first place — he “snapped” one day and beat a man nearly to death.
Despite such a shocking revelation, Pat’s basic humanity and his earnest attempts to carve out a “silver lining” for his life win over not just us, the audience, but also Tiffany Maxwell (Lawrence), a young widow who is wrangling with some destructive behaviors of her own. The poster for Silver Linings may have made you think it would be just another light, sparkly indie rom-com, but in truth, this movie features elements that are genuinely dark, and its characters (though always appealingly quirky) also exhibit traits and behaviors that are far from lovable. It is to the credit of director and screenwriter David O. Russell that the characters’ more unappealing facets are never glossed over in an attempt to evoke moviegoers’ empathy.
This decision turns out to have been a boon: the movie works precisely because its characters come across as realistic and completely human. Any one of the film’s idiosyncratic personalities may somehow remind viewers of a person from “real life,” whether that character is the volatile but sensitive teacher struggling to live with his bipolar disorder (Pat), or the recovering sex addict with a passion for ballroom dance (Tiffany) or any other one of the movie’s brilliant matches between actor and character. (De Niro, Julia Stiles, Chris Tucker and Jacki Weaver, to name just a few, also gave terrific performances.) Through Russell’s delicate balance of realism and savvy, masterful storytelling, Patrick and his loved ones completely win you over, making you simultaneously feel great affection and frustration towards them — just like you would towards your real family.
Despite assets like a predominantly honest, insightful screenplay and airtight performances from a formidable cast, Silver Linings Playbook can’t quite avoid every potential pitfall. A sheer surfeit of indie-film clichés constitutes an especially weak aspect of the movie. There’s the obligatory running joke about psychiatric drugs, the familiar figure of the implausibly aggressive and snobbish older sibling and (but of course) the gutsy, nonconformist, emotionally damaged female love interest.
In some ways, though, these not-so-believable moments provide a welcome respite from the stark, harsh reality that drives much of the film’s action. In fact, it almost seems that certain scenes in Silver Linings Playbook were deliberately calculated to make viewers uncomfortable: nearly everyone in the theater that I could see flinched and squirmed uneasily whenever Pat’s father hysterically bellowed at his son — a behavior pattern that was, by the way, conspicuously recurrent.
The film’s prototypical “happy ending” may come as somewhat of a surprise after a full two hours of grim, hopeless realism — albeit a realism that’s periodically punctuated by creative twists and the time-tested gimmicks of indie films. You may have bought your ticket to Silver Linings Playbook with the expectation that you’d be seeing yet another pleasant knockoff of Little Miss Sunshine or (500) Days of Summer. Yet it’s this stubborn refusal of Silver Linings to fit into any previously defined genre that marks it as the distinctive, compelling film that it certainly is. Silver Linings Playbook has changed the game of movies, and this year’s Academy Awards would do well to pay attention.
