Silver Linings Playbook - Movie Review

It's winter here in South Africa at the moment... and it is freezing.

Last night I was supposed to be productive and head to the Yogashala studio in town for my first yoga session in months. I've been seriously slack since my slightly deborturous (kidding mum... only a little bit,) Contiki tour of Europe.

Instead however, I stayed bundled up in my tracky bottoms and oversized hoodie, took a quick drive to the grocery store where I bought no groceries at all... the contents of my shopping cart contained one bottle of deeeeelicious merlot, a packet of salt and vinegar crisps, a box of chocolate-mint biscuits and a new toothbrush.

I also nipped into my local movie shop and grabbed the last copy of this, thinking that Bradley Cooper would be more than adequate company for the rest of the evening.

 

Arriving home I lit a fire and poured myself a nice big glass of red, plopped the disc into the machine and pressed play... fighting for some space in front of fire as my cat, Guru, appeared to be in kitty-cat heaven as seen below:

She literally stayed like that for the whole movie....

 

Anyway.

 

For some reason, I was under the impression that Silver Linings Playbook was more of a comedy. It does have some fairly funny scenes, but I'd definitely classify this as more of a drama.

It is based on Pat (Cooper), a man who has just been released from a mental hospital where he had been a patient for 8 months after catching his wife in the shower with her co-worker.

Pat is convinced that his wife still loves him and is just waiting for him to get his life together and get into shape and then she will take him back. The fact that she filed for a restraining order against him and sold their house while he was away somehow did not appear to faze him in the slightest.

Along his emotional journey to pick up the pieces of his broken world, Pat meets a woman called Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence).

Tiffany seems to be just as unstable as himself as she deals with the loss of her husband.

He believes that Tiffany is the key to getting his wife back because he can communicate to his wife through her.

Their friendship is an awkward, sexually tense one that you cannot help but cringe at but it just adds to this films juiciness.

 

Together they embark on a beautiful path to happiness with the art of dance guiding their every step.

Tiffany is able to heal Pat through dance and through acceptance of who he truly is and vice versa.

 

This movie is a gorgeous combination of comedy and drama; and also accommodating for both men and woman.

 

Director, David O. Russell really pulled this film off and was able to make it so unique and enjoyable, unlike the many other rom-coms available these days.

 

The soundtrack is also so lovely and makes the movie just that much more enjoyable.