Silver Linings Playbook: Couples therapy

Fresh out of a mental institution where he was sent after an over-the-top jealous outburst, Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper) moves back into to his family home. While his parents welcome him back, their son’s return to everyday life proves to be a big challenge.  Pat refuses medication and lets his manic mind race with ways to win back his estranged wife.  Self-involved, obsessed, deluded, easily excitable and riding a roller coaster of emotions, he is constantly on the edge of losing everything.

Then he meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), another damaged soul on her own unconventional path to turn things around. After her police officer husband died, she let loose and slept around. Now she’s trying to reclaim herself and channeling her energies into dance.

“You say more inappropriate things than appropriate things,” Tiffany tells Pat when they first meet at a dinner party. In fact, both characters can be incredibly blunt and that hard truth is something they both need.

Every silver lining comes with a cloud or two and there are a few problems with this film. Pat goes from convincing mania to complete clarity a little too easily. He also ends up appreciating something Tiffany does for reasons we cannot understand. And Pat’s mother (Jacki Weaver) agrees to do something that seems completely out of character. But, the strong performances and scenes with Pat’s gambling OCD father (Robert De Niro) and a colorful cast of quirky friends and acquaintances like the gregarious Danny (Chris Tucker), the repressed Ronnie (John Ortiz) and his mandated therapist, Dr. Cliff Patel (Anupam Kher) more than make up for Silver Linings Playbook‘s the other idiosyncrasies.