Silver Linings Playbook:

Match made in heaven?

Ruwini Jayawardana

Based on a novel of the same name by Matthew Quick, director David O Russell's ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ is a rom-com which is well worth watching. Not only do the two main characters stand out in their attempts at portraying mentally disturbed individuals but the film flows on a light vein yet has a serious note embedded in its plot.

Patrizio Solitano is locked up in the mental hospital and brought home by his mother. He is a bipolar sufferer who had tried to beat a man nearly to death after catching him in the shower with his wife, Nikki. Though Nikki has been unfaithful to him Pat's love is deep rooted. He returns home after eight months determined to get his life and wife back. However he discovers that things are not that easy as he has to deal with his temper as well as from social stigma.

At a dinner with one of his close friends Pat encounters Tiffany, a fiery widow with problems of her own. She persuades him to partner her in a dance competition agreeing to act as a medium, passing letters between Pat and Nikki who is a frequent visitor to her sister's home. As these incidents unfurl another tale runs on the sidelines of this story. Pat's father wants to start a restaurant and hopes to get the money by betting on the Eagles game.

‘Silver Linings Playbook’ is a movie which is not afraid to plunge into the dark spaces of the mind and heart. Through scenes like that in which Pat ends up hurting his mother and punching his father it tells us that mental illness is a serious matter.

Your family practically has to walk on eggshells when you are around and will be on constant alert for trouble. Though things work out for Pat and Tiffany, each broken individual seeking comfort in each other, it might not have been the case if the incidents had not occurred in the given manner. This is where the film excels by keeping things simple and sympathetic but not going overboard.

The story deals with mental illness, medications and marital discord yet as the film proceeds you realize that rather than focus on these themes in a serious angle ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ takes an unexpected humorous turn. It is an engaging, sharp and witty film.

Though this is a novel approach to Hollywood film-making one cannot help but feel a hint of Bollywood in the plot. Hindi film fans may be able to recall the Shah Rukh Khan starrer ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.'This may be because the element which bounds Tiffany and Pat together is dance and because the film ends in a typically Bollywoodish manner with a ‘and they lived happily ever after’ note.

Bradley Cooper makes a surprisingly venerable Pat. He is fuming at one point while becoming a nervous wreck at the next. Jennifer Lawrence is stunning as the unpredictable Tiffany. Though a tough woman on the outside we soon discover that she possesses a fragile soul which she bares before the audience in an array of passing scenes. This is probably what won her this year's Oscar award for Best Actress. The couple is well suited and sparks fly ever since their first meeting. This is funny because their meeting does not resemble a dream date.

The supporting characters too contribute well in making ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ watchable. Robert De Niro gets into the skin of the flawed father while Anupam Kher gives a memorable performance as the therapist Dr Patel. Chris Tucker should have been given more screen time for playing Danny McDaniels, Pat's best friend at the mental health faculty to perfection.

‘Silver Linings Playbook’ may not be a classic but it is an enjoyable romantic comedy which takes Hollywood movie-making out of the box.