Hollywood rarely knows what to do with broken people. In As Good As it Gets, we pretend that Jack Nicholson is reformable. In Love and Other Drugs, we pretend Anne Hathaway isn’t. And it’s not that either of these is a bad film, the problem always is the fine line between entertainment and reality. The picture has to make us root for romance, but it cannot shy away from conflict. Hard to get it right.
Silver Linings Playbook gets it right. Pat (Bradley Cooper) and Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) are people so repulsive you’ll actually look past the fact that they’re very pretty. Outpatient Pat is the kind of guy who can destroy a doctor’s waiting room when tempted by a Pavlovian trigger –in this case Stevie Wonder‘s “My Cheri Amour.” Then there’s Tiffany. Her husband of three years died and she fills the gaps with sex ‘n’ surly. Can you imagine being so put off you wouldn’t consider dating either Bradley Cooper or Jennifer Lawrence? They’re both broken. And now that they’ve turned us off, they have the uphill climb of turning us on again — or at least understanding they’re made for one another.
Repeating the motto, “Excelsior” as if the word itself were a talisman warding off mood swings, Pat speaks as if he’s swallowed a self-help textbook. Luckily, this ends pretty soon, because I don’t think I could take an entire movie of a guy bullshitting his true feelings. When he tosses A Farewell to Arms out a closed window at four in the morning and then wakes his parents to play angry book club, then I truly started enjoying Silver Linings. Yeah, find the Silver Lining in your bi-polar son waking you to “discuss” Hemingway at 4 a.m. Then Pat makes a criminally bad impression by wearing a Philadelphia Eagles football jersey to a dinner party. That’s where he meets Tiffany.
Pat and Tiffany bond over comparing prescription drug abuse side effects. It’s just so cute when junior is up on his meds. They both wear wedding rings for unavailable partners. This is a classic movie way of saying, “hey, they’re perfect for each other!” Then Pat spoils it by pointing out Tiffany’s husband is dead (and insulting her in the process by insinuating her mental block is much deeper than his). Pat does this several times in the film. In response, she embraces him, kisses him on the lips and slaps him hard. These are the actions of broken people. The only perfection is that the two are pretty and available, but as Pat doesn’t see that, a film has to happen. Worth note that even when Bradley Cooper is acting batshit insane on screen, we never lose Jennifer Lawrence. A lesser actress would have disappeared into the diner scenery, say, when Pat orders Raisin Bran just to show he’s not on a date. [I’ve been waiting for this Jennifer Lawrence to reappear since Winter’s Bone. Katniss ain’t doin’ it for me – show me you own the screen without having to shoot somebody. Ah, here it is.]
And the subplot is all about the obsession with Philadelphia Eagles football, let by Pat Sr. (Robert DeNiro). He’s been banned from the stadium. Ah, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, does it? I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a film that truly captured obsessive fandom as I see it:
“Don’t you understand? All of Western Civilization will fall if the Eagles don’t cover the spread against the Saints.”
“Um … if you truly believe that, why aren’t you doing something to influence it besides gripping a green towel and pointing the clickers westward?”
“Let’s not be silly; we’re not soccer hooligans.”
And yet there’s a pre-game fan fight before a big match-up here all the same. Most East Coast fans will tell you Philadelphia fans are the very worst in sport. There’s nothing here to dissuade you of that notion, and yet this is a love story with a Philly sport background. Broken fans, broken people, broken love, funny movie.
♪L … is for the Loony bin that you got through
O … is for the Overreacting I do
V … is Very Very beyond mere ritual
E … means let’s see Eagles football♫
Rated R, 122 Minutes
D: David O. Russell
W: David O. Russell
Genre: Broken people in love
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Broken people
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Their caretakers
The book scene reminded me of when we finished reading “A Separate Peace” in middle school, and Andrew tore his copy in half and said, “Now it’s two separate pieces!” I’m sure he’s not the only one to have though of that joke, but it’s still one of my favorite lines of all time.