The Silver Linings Playbook

Movie: The Silver Linings Playbook

Genre: drama

Synopsis: Pat (Bradley Cooper) is a former teacher.  Pat found his wife in the shower with a friend and went over the edge.  He severely beat the pother man and ended up arrested and confined to a mental hospital after being diagnosed as bi-polar with obsessive tendencies.  The movie opens with Pat being grudgingly released from the hospital into his mother’s custody.  Pat is walking a fine line.  He does not want to take his meds. Which exacerbates his obsession that his wife is going to take him back.  She has divorced him, but he refuses to accept it.  He meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence).  Tiffany also has some mental health issues.  The two find solace and support with each other.  Tiffany agrees to help Pat contact his ex-wife in exchange to a promise from Pat to be her partner in an upcoming ballroom dancing competition.

My two cents: This was much better than I expected.  Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence both turned in dynamite performances.  Bradley Cooper was so convincing as the mentally unstable Pat that he had me a bit uncomfortable.  I have been a fan of Jennifer Lawrence since I first saw her in “The Burning Plain”.  She has never disappointed me.  I am not sure why this movie did not get a wider release.was not more of a success in its theatrical run.  The two stars surely have a good following – plus Robert DeNiro had a pretty interesting role as Pat’s father, who turns out to have some mental health issues of his own.

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