Silver Linings Playbook

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I wasn’t sure what to expect going into Silver Linings Playbook, but after watching it’s going on my top ten movie list-of all times.  From the very beginning you get this sense that Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper) is not crazy.  Sure he has serious rage problems and impulse control issues, but who isn’t crazy in their own way?  He's so good in this role.

David O. Russell has an uncanny ability to give us deeply flawed characters we can’t help but root for.  Pat is the latest.  We meet him after an eight-month stint in a mental institution.  The time away from the problems that drove him there does nothing to satiate Pat’s love for his estranged wife.  The indirect reason he went away in the first place.  He’s determined to reunite with his wife although she has a restraining order against him.

As Pat tries to find his silver lining and have any chance of a normal life, his family makes it very difficult.  His dad, Pat Sr (Robert De Niro) clearly has psychological issues of his own.  His mother Dolores (Jacki Weaver) seems at a loss as to how to make all her boys happy.  Further adding to the family turmoil is a visit from Pat’s brother, Jake (Shea Whigham), who seems to be doing very well and is a fully functioning member of society. 

After seeing his friend, Ronnie (John Ortiz), Pat gets invited to dinner.  What he doesn’t know is Ronnie’s wife Veronica (Julia Stiles) has invited her sister Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence).  We pick up on the fact that this is a set-up but it takes Pat too long to figure it out.   Pat’s inability to have a polite conversation is on full display as we find out Tiffany has experienced her own set of life circumstances that are anything but enviable.  She makes inappropriate advances when Pat walks her home but this gets him thinking.  Tiffany proceeds to “stalk” Pat in an effort to start a friendship that he at first wants no part of but later realizes could be a huge help in getting his wife back.

Everyone in the movie is amazing.  Amazing.  They all turn in performances that are heart felt and very much deserving of Oscar nominations.  One scene in particular with Cooper and De Niro is so genuinely raw it just blows you away.   Jackie Weaver is the perfect balance of presence and maternal interaction.  When she comes to pick-up Pat from the institution and they end up also giving a ride to his friend and fellow patient Danny (exceptionally brought to life by Chris Tucker), you can tell she just wants Pat to succeed.  But she doesn’t know how to help. 

Jennifer Lawrence always knocks it out of the park for me.  I love her.  In hearing that Russell wasn’t even seriously considering her for the part of Tiffany, I was floored.  I don’t know what other actress could have been more appropriate.  You fall under her spell because she’s too young to be so unsuspectingly wise.  Anupam Kher serves as a more obvious source of guidance for Pat.  Their relationship is amazing and their chemistry enjoyable. 

I rarely love a movie as much as I did Silver Linings Playbook because a lot of movies are just stories being told.  I felt these actors lived these lives and were these people.  I saw myself and my own misguided attempts at achieving normalcy in these characters actions, and I guess in some ways I hope I can come to a place where I realize we’re all just doing the best we can every day.  And that has to be enough. 

Lincoln

It must be Oscar season.  Lincoln was fantastic.  I’m not a huge Steven Spielberg fan but I love history and I love period pieces.  I also love Daniel Day-Lewis.  Give me such an all-around phenomenal movie like this, and I’m a very happy girl. 

I went in with very high expectations.  I usually try not to do that because movies rarely tend to be as good as you think they will be.  Maybe that’s just me.  Day-Lewis carries us through what could have definitely felt like a long movie if not for such good pacing.  Kudos to Spielberg for his part in that as well.  Sally Fields blows us away with her razor-tongued, mad Mary Todd Lincoln.  Scene after scene as another reputable actor bursts onto the scene you almost audible say, “He’s in this too?!?!” 

Rick Carter’s production design beautifully takes us back to 1865 when the white house was a skeleton of what we’ve come to know. Joanna Johnston’s costumes continue to solidify where and when we are in history as we watch this amazing story unfold in front of us.  Obviously we know how this story is going to end, but it is so engaging we hold out hope that time will not come.  We see the fragile family and political life Lincoln so expertly navigated.  Is there anything this man wouldn’t take up?

Tommy Lee Jones is a major standout as Thaddeus Stevens.  As the recipient of Mrs. Lincoln’s harsh words, he takes a page from her husband’s book and plays the consummate politician.  He plays his character with such knowledge and understanding that I fell in love with Mr. Jones as an actor all over again.  I believe period pieces like this are a much harder job for actors.  You better bring you’re A game or everyone is going to know if you didn’t do your homework.  Not that Joseph Gordon-Levitt was bad he was just….there. 

Gulliver McGrath’s Tad Lincoln was another standout.  The way he follows Day-Lewis in their scenes and interacts-I’m in.  Can’t wait to see what he does next.  James Spader and John Hawkes are thoroughly enjoyable.  Nearly everyone in this is a true delight to watch. 

A short review for such a long movie, but I have nothing else to say except it was very well done.