‘Silver Linings Playbook’ an entertaining film with heart

If you come home to discover your wife in the shower with another man, don’t beat the guy up until he’s inches from death. That’s what Pat (Bradley Cooper) does in Silver Linings Playbook and it results in him spending eight months in a mental institution.

When we meet Pat, he has just mastered control of his anger and has a plan to get his wife back, despite her restraining order against him. He connects with his father (Robert De Niro), a diehard Eagles fan who got kicked out of the stadium because he has an anger problem of his own. Pat goes to a dinner party where he meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a girl as quirky and interesting as himself. The two chat about what medications they’ve taken and how they don’t fit into society and they end up really hitting it off.  Pat discovers that Tiffany has a way of getting in contact with his ex-wife, but will only do it if he agrees to be her dance partner in a freestyle dance competition.

Silver Linings Playbook is a romantic comedy, but it has enough heart to make it very entertaining. Both Cooper and Lawrence give incredible performances of eccentric characters are both finding ways to cope with loss and the fact that they might just be a bit different. I never really thought Cooper had the type of range to play a role like this.

We also get some good scenes with De Niro and Chris Tucker, who plays a man who served time in the mental institution with Pat. While he isn’t in the film a lot, his appearances are always welcome and very funny.

Silver Linings Playbook makes a great holiday film and a great date movie. It has moments where you want to yell at Pat to get his shit together but regardless you’re still rooting for him to succeed because he’s so likable. If you can get to the theaters to see this, I definitely think you should. If not, it’s a very solid Redbox selection.