Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

I am quickly growing to be a huge fan of Bradley Cooper (Guardians Of The Galaxy) after having already viewed A Star Is Born and Burnt. If you do not have the VUDU app then you have to download it because they off great movies to view for free every month and if you keep throwing Coopers films in there I am going to check it out like today’s film Silver Linings Playbook. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, but they only took home one, but it was released in 2012 and was directed by David O. Russell (American Hustle). The film stars Cooper as Pat Solitano, a former high school teacher who just served a stint in a mental hospital after finding his wife cheating with another teacher and he uncontrollably beat that said teacher. Now he is out and all he wants to do is prove to his estranged wife that he is a better man than before and he’ll need Tiffany’s (Jennifer Lawrence) help in order to do so. The film also stars Robert De Niro (Ronin) as Pat Sr., Jacki Weaver (Widows) as Dolores, Chris Tucker (Rush Hour) as Danny, John Ortiz (Steve Jobs) as Ronnie, Julia Stiles (The Omen) as Veronica, Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire) as Jake, Paul Herman (Heat) as Randy, Dash Mihok (Romeo + Juliet) as Officer Keogh, and Anupam Kher (Hotel Mumbai) as Dr. Patel.

One thing has to be said right from the get go and that is the film won the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for Jennifer Lawrence who rightfully deserved the award. Bradley Cooper did a great job playing someone who kept telling themselves that they were getting better, but Jennifer put out a great performance as the girl who takes what she wants by any means, but is also vulnerable at the same time. Traumatizing events in life can have a very negative effect and it hits people in different ways and the two of them were examples of that. Bradley Cooper acted out in anger and frustration when situations were not going his way while Lawrence acted out because she was depressed and felt alone. Those are two well known examples of mental health distress, but everyone solves it in their own way and it was the two of them that helped each other. One of the funniest things in the film had to be Chris Tucker who must have escaped Baltimore like three times, but was always escorted back because his technicality didn't work. Robert De Niro was awesome as well as the very superstitious, old school father in a film that featured some great acting. The story si great, the cinematography is great, and there is a great balance of comedy and drama in the film. This is definitely a great one to check out and as I said before, it's available right now on VUDU for free. So, I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade.