{"id":24005,"date":"2013-01-01T17:16:33","date_gmt":"2013-01-02T01:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=24005"},"modified":"2013-01-03T14:17:36","modified_gmt":"2013-01-03T22:17:36","slug":"silver-linings-playbook-david-o-russell-2012-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=24005","title":{"rendered":"Silver Linings Playbook (David O. Russell, 2012): USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Kathleen Amboy<\/a>.\u00a0 Viewed at Paseo Nuevo, Santa Barbara, CA.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0Bound by prescription meds and court-ordered therapy for anger management issues, bi-polar Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper), turns from the\u00a0NFL to\u00a0ballroom dancing as a progressive step forward.<\/p>\n

Recently released to the care of his parents, Pat’s\u00a0new motto\u00a0is “excelsior,” which expresses his intent of finding a “silver lining” by moving upward and forward in life, because a “state of negativity is a poison like anything else.”\u00a0 Despite his obsession in re-kindling his marriage with ex-wife Nikki (Brea Bee),\u00a0she has filed a restraining order against him, which he chooses to ignore.<\/p>\n

Pat’s dad, Pat Sr. (Robert De Niro), is an obsessive-compulsive fan of the Philadelphia Eagles, and a\u00a0bookmaker, who has been officially banned from\u00a0Lincoln Field\u00a0for anger management issues.<\/p>\n

Tiffany Maxwell (Jennifer Lawrence) is a recent widow and friend of the family, and a stalker-jogger, who continually stalks Pat on his daily jog through the neighborhood, as he attempts to lose weight and get into shape “for Nikki.”<\/p>\n

As a\u00a0constant source of antagonism to Pat, Tiffany actually tries to re-direct Pat’s pointless objective, in order to broaden his horizons, yet\u00a0Pat can’t see the forest for the trees.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Pat Sr. wants Pat to stay home, follow the NFL, do a little father-son bonding, and most importantly act as his good luck charm for all home games.<\/p>\n

Strangely, though Tiffany is edgy and embittered,\u00a0she is\u00a0hopeful, while Pat, though supposedly positive in his\u00a0outlook, has a much narrower perspective of life.\u00a0 Sparks begin to\u00a0fly when the two team up for a dance contest, with Pat Sr’s entire kitty riding on their score.<\/p>\n

With themes of letting go and embracing change, Silver Linings<\/em> Playbook<\/em><\/a>\u00a0is emotionally unsettling, and will make your\u00a0life circumstances appear normal.\u00a0 Oft times humorous and sentimental,\u00a0the film\u00a0is greatly enhanced by its off-beat though\u00a0sublime\u00a0soundtrack – slightly reminiscent of When Harry Met Sally<\/em>.\u00a0 Stevie Wonder, Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan, and the late great Dave Brubeck are keyed in at\u00a0sensitive moments, giving this film an added emotional kick.<\/p>\n

Cooper, De Niro, and Lawrence share a refreshing chemistry and balanced vulnerability, and\u00a0deserve an Oscar nod for Best Actor, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress respectively.<\/p>\n

Director David O. Russell also helmed 2010’s The Fighter.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Reviewed by Kathleen Amboy.\u00a0 Viewed at Paseo Nuevo, Santa Barbara, CA. \u00a0Bound by prescription meds and court-ordered therapy for anger management issues, bi-polar Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper), turns from the\u00a0NFL to\u00a0ballroom dancing as a progressive step forward. Recently released to the care of his parents, Pat’s\u00a0new motto\u00a0is “excelsior,” which expresses his intent of finding a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24005\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}