Silver Linings Playbook: Making mental illness adorable
Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper star in David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook
There have been many movies about mental illness, and many of them have been Oscar bait, but Silver Linings Playbook starring newly-crowned Best Actress Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper is the first we can recall that makes being crazy appealing. Sure, the crazy people in this movie can be annoying and unpredictable, but mostly they’re cute and funny and you never really get the impression that they could harm themselves or others. Yes, Patrick (Bradley Cooper) almost beats a man to death, but that man deserved to have the crap kicked out of him. And Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) had sex with everyone at her place of work, but she was depressed plus it only makes her hotter.
Silver Linings Playbook romanticizes manic-depression (We prefer this term to the current “bipolar”) and deftly sidesteps its more disturbing aspects. It almost makes you want to be nuts. In this undeniably entertaining romantic comedy, the one thing a crazy man needs to become sane is the love of a strong woman and some choreography. So she manipulates him, so what, it’s for his own good.
Have you ever spoken to an unmedicated manic-depressive? They talk in loops, and the loops lead to more loops, and it’s frustrating to both of you because you can’t seem to escape from the loop. They can’t stop even if they want to; they are not in control. It’s like they’ve got their mind on their mind and they’re talking to you but watching themselves at the same time. And the scary part is not the possibility that they’ll attack you, but the thought that take a synapse here and there and that could be you.
But why go into the fear and loathing stuff when Patrick and Tiffany are so cute! Early on we get a sense of Patrick’s dangerous rage, but before long he is tamed by drugs and Tiffany. You know why we like Jennifer Lawrence so much? Because in an industry full of fakes, she comes across as a level-headed, real person—a girl with a well-developed bullshit detector. Not for one moment do we believe that she’s loony.
Meanwhile Robert De Niro gives the rare post-Heat performance that doesn’t make us want to club him with ancient Betamax copies of Godfather II and Raging Bull.
Crazy person movie: Puzzle of a Downfall Child by Jerry Schatzberg. Reminds us of people we know, except that they don’t look like Faye Dunaway. Watch it for the insanity, or the outfits.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
February 28th, 2013 at 07:59
“Manic-depressives”when on their meds are very articulate, artistic, intelligent people…my best friend is one of them. However, im surrounded by the non-medicated ones everyday and they’re pretty scary. I wish they looked like Bradley and Jennifer. That would make my working life pleasant.
February 28th, 2013 at 08:02
I love Jennifer Lawrence… but it makes me a little crazy trying to rationalize how she won Best Actress for this performance considering she was much better in Winter’s Bone and how great Emmanuelle Riva was in Amour.
February 28th, 2013 at 11:09
Also, Pat has this obsession of getting back with his ex-wife.
The obsession drove him to lose weight (apparently, he was overweight before his “apart time” with his ex), to read books (the ex-wife is a high school English teacher), and to befriend Tiffany–an intimidating, kooky girl who follows him around whenever he goes for a run.
His obsession with his ex-wife made him want to be a better man (made me think of what Melvin Udall said to Carol in “As Good As It Gets”).
It caused him to look for “silver linings,” and made him think that all the bad things that had happened to him are somewhat his fault. He thinks he can fix everything up, by being “positive.” Maybe this is the mental illness–to think that there are “happy endings.”
There are no happy endings. Not in real life, anyway.
The scene where Pat is looking for his wedding video hits close to home. I am intimately familiar with that kind of “rage.” Kind of unnerving, that scene.
The rest of the movie is predictable–even my basset hound, who patiently sat by me while I was watching the movie, could see what the ending would be (true story!).
But it is to the credit of everybody involved in the movie that one does not mind the predictability.
One actually anticipates it; one actually expects that ending–anything else, and you might as well divide by zero.
I saw the movie first before I read the book; worked out better for me.
February 28th, 2013 at 11:11
CaitlynsMomma: You’re right, we added “unmedicated”.
February 28th, 2013 at 11:20
jediknight: Korak. Too much positive thinking is dangerous, clouds the sense of reality.
February 28th, 2013 at 11:23
lastdodobird: Have you seen Rachel Weisz in The Deep Blue Sea? Wow.
February 28th, 2013 at 15:37
lastdodobird: my thoughts EXACTLY. I loved her in “Winter’s Bone”. When I watched “Silver Linings Playbook” it never occurred to me that it’s worth being nominated for, let alone sweep the awards. A different story for Robert De Niro though.
February 28th, 2013 at 19:34
See, as much as I love Jennifer Lawrence – and I’m not even mad about her winning, more like “Eh, yun na yon” – I could not shake off the impression that she got nominated for playing a variation of the Manic (Depressive) Pixie Dream Girl. My “manok” in this race was Jessica Chastain, and I would have rather had Rachel Weisz or Marion Cotillard in JL’s place instead.
Then again, the casting could have been worse: http://www.nextmovie.com/blog/2013-oscar-movies-original-cast/
I’ll still go out to see the movie, though, preferably before I read the book. And I’ll still hold out a bit of hope for Beasts of the Southern Wild to get a theatrical run here, however short it may be.
February 28th, 2013 at 20:50
Nope I haven’t yet. But it looks like now I have to. I think I was avoiding it because my impression was that it’s a tad bit melodramatic. Will try it out soon.
February 28th, 2013 at 22:15
Melodrama in itself is not bad. When it’s done well it’s cathartic. When it’s overdone it’s hilarious. The test is: Your brain says you should be laughing, but you’re not. Example: Gone With The Wind. The starving Scarlett digs in the dirt, finds a radish or something, shakes her fist at the sky and says that line. Then soaring music. We should be rolling in the aisles, but we’re too caught up to laugh.
March 1st, 2013 at 14:43
Haven’t watched this but now will have to. After all, Bradley Cooper has been scheduled to marry me since The Hangover, but my love affair with Tom Hardy has been getting in the way.
I am just pleasantly surprised that a romantic-comedy got nominated for an Oscar, which seems quite rare these days as far as I recall.
March 1st, 2013 at 14:51
@stellalehua:
I probably wouldn’t mind Anne Hathaway as opposed to Jennifer Lawrence on this movie (I love Anne, and hey, they’re now both Oscar winners), but Marky Mark? Or Zooey Deschanel with Vince Vaughn?
Still, neither is as bad as me seeing Jessica Beal as a prior choice for Fantine, and with Taylor Swift in the mix for “Les Miserables” (I assume Taylor was probably Eponine or Cosette). Then again, having Emma Watson (who was probably playing whoever Taylor was not) and Paul Bettany as Javert instead of Russell Crowe might have improved the movie considerably.
And Will Smith was originally for “Django Unchained?” They dodged that bullet well. As “Wild Wild West” would show, Will Smith is not good for Westerns. Ever. What would’ve made this worse if Kevin Kline was in the mix instead of Christoph Waltz.
March 3rd, 2013 at 11:59
I thought it was refreshing the way this movie portrayed mental illness — not in a grand, dramatic, I’m-losing-my-mind way that it’s usually done, but in the light of daily, just off-kilter, harmless-unless-checked manner. The “rage” can take over at any time, and that’s what is dangerous and occasionally tragic. And that sometimes, it could be really funny. It’s not easy acting task, and Bradley Cooper nailed it.