Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
2 hr 2 min | Romance, Drama, Comedy | Dir. David O. Russell | Rated R
After a stint in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife. Things get more challenging when Pat meets Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own.
I'm not normally someone who says "the book/film was better!" I completely understand that books and their film adaptations are separate works of art, and that it is unfair to compare them. They are standalone works of art and should be judged as such. However, this is one of my favorite books that made me bawl my eyes out and made me actually feel something, so I had to try really hard to not constantly think of the book while watching this movie.
The film is a loose-ish adaptation of the book. The book is much heavier: Pat and his father have much more of a strained relationship, his parents have a strained relationship with each other, and he is more in the dark about what's going on in his life. He doesn't figure out that Tiffany is the one writing the letters. He needs to be told. The football players in the film were relevant to the time this movie came out rather than to the time the book was written.
The movie is basically a lighter, simplified version of the book. It's not bad by any means. It just didn't have the same heaviness and emotional rawness that I appreciated so much about the book.
Regardless, the film is amusing. Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence have great chemistry. The only thing that doesn't really make sense is the fact Pat, as delusional as he is, figures out on his own that Tiffany wrote the letters and instead of getting mad at her for it, he just instantly gets over Nikki to go be with Tiffany. It did not make sense. Other than that, it's not a bad film. I appreciate it for what it is.