Silver Linings Playbook

Having not seen too much marketing for this film, but buoyed by some good buzz on the performances by Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, I gave it a viewing.  I came away with 2 hours of enjoying the ride of watching a family dramedy with a solid interpersonal script for its cast.

In the film, Patrick (Bradley Cooper) is brought home from a stint in a mental health facility, brought on from an incident in the recent past, where some of his mental health issues combined with marital life issues came to a head and he snapped.  Trying to get back to his former life is a struggle, but he is introduced to Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence in a solid performance), recently widowed, and their odd non-filtered, honesty unfurls into a quid pro quo arrangement for the both of them with different goals, but needing one another to achieve them.  Robert Deniro, as Pat's father, has his own subplot that supports some of the unfiltered brashness that Patrick puts out there in the world.  The story does have a familiar cadence to rom-coms, but the script and pacing of the film are so good, and the humor builds and builds because even with their faults and quirks, they are still in most way very rootable in the end.

And then I found out it was written and directed by David O'Russell during the end credits, and I understood why its tone and quirks worked for me.

I give it 3.5 stars, or a grade of B+.