Happiness Therapy

People are saying that it's "offensive" and "too happy" to be real, and that surprises me. As someone who lives with mental illness (severe major depression with severe psychotic features), and was in psych ward for quite a while, I didn't find it offensive. I found it to be remarkably accurate in portraying some of my own struggles, with mind-dulling medications, unwanted outbursts, deep paranoia, odd tics, etc. that I have had for over ten years. As for the "overly happy" stuff? Too many movies and TV shows focus on being "dark" and "edgy", so I found it refreshing to see someone going through struggles being positive about it. I won't pretend to have had the most difficult life, but it hasn't been easy. I saw this movie a few months after I was released from psych ward (2016), and I can honestly say it gave me a bit of hope to find my own silver lining. The world needs more positivity.

I am bi-polar. I have been that way since I was a young man. I am approaching 60. I have been in treatment for many years. There have been relapses and time spent in hospitals. There have been good times. Before I received good treated, I left a trail of emotional, professional, and relational disaster behind me. It broke apart the lives of others as much as it did my own.

I did not know what to expect from this movie. It is a stunningly accurate trip into the mind of a BP sufferer. It shows the disease from the outside, too. It is amazing in its accuracy. The mood swings, the detachment from reality, the failure to learn from past errors are there. Here is a guy who has so messed up he is in the hospital. He is released into the custody of his parents. He improves himself physically yet cannot see what he has done, what he is now, and what the future portends with any sort of reality.

There are other situations in the film which mirror the BP life. There are job losses, broken relationships, unlimited optimism, anger, and a feeling that no one understands you. But he doesn't even understand himself. He thinks he is the only sane person around. He is in complete denial yet goes along with treatment just to get along with others.

The obsession with his estranged wife drives him. Everything he does is to make himself look desirable to her.

Then there is the hair trigger and the propensity toward violence which ultimately put him into the hospital. He has the belief that he sees with much more clarity than anyone else. There is also the hatred of medications and the belief that he doesn't need them.

Yet, there is hope. There is no miraculous cure. There is a negotiated peace between his illness and the way he must be to survive in the world.

The only thing I felt was missing was the crushing depression. But I understand that. Depression makes for lousy movies. The film is strictly about a manic life that wants to be better but cannot accept that he is badly off dead center normal.

If you are bi-polar and under control, see this film! If you live with or deal with a BP, see this movie. If you are untreated, you won't get it because BP clouds the mind.

My new wife and I went to see it. Up front I told her that I had this mental illness. She still married me. She is a health care worker with an understanding of illness and of treatment. After the film she asked me what I thought.

I told her that I was a bit frightened to tell her that the portrayal is spot on and that I had seen all of it before.

But like all bipolar sufferers, I wanted her to know that "I was never that bad." The truth is, I was....but we BP people don't handle reality all that well.

The average romantic aspect of the film was excellent, but the dramatic side was poor. Jennifer Lawrence's performance was excellent and she deserved an Academy Award for her performance in the film. Bradley Cooper's performance was excellent. The body of the psychopathic character was excellent.

While the big headlines might be taken by the Oscar nominated lead actors (and also Oscar winner, regarding Jennifer Lawrence), the other good news is that De Niro finally had a role he could relish in again. And a role we as viewers would actually like to see him in too. There have been a few lesser roles he played over the past couple of years. And while he is never able to completely disappoint, you won't remember him for a movie called "Freelancers" and others in that vain.

But back to the leading couple. A couple that is really so far apart, that you know what that ultimately means for them. But Bradley Coopers character has a lot more going on than that. There are relationships that went wrong and it's really tough sometimes to watch him destroying himself or at least attempting to. A very good movie, with great dialog

While most romantic comedies usually contain bad acting, sappiness, and a large amount of predictable moments; Silver Linings Playbook is the exact opposite. There may be a little amount sappiness in this movie but there is bound to be some in any romantic situations. In reality though, all of the sap in Silver Linings Playbook can be overlooked due to the fact that the film is completely original, extremely funny, and contains outstanding acting from the two lead roles.

Written and directed by David O. Russell (The Fighter), Silver Linings Playbook is about a man, played by Bradley Cooper (Limitless, The Hangover), who was just released from an eight month stint in a psychiatric hospital. He wants to get his life back on track but is being held back by his parents and his unstable condition. After a little while, he strikes up an interesting friendship with a female played by Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone, The Hunger Games). Both of these characters are going through somewhat of the same type of problems which makes their friendship even more quirky and thought-provoking.

Because a large amount of romantic comedies are stale and overdone, Silver Linings Playbook is a breath of fresh air. Usually movies in this genre follow a very particular road map that entails: man is at rock bottom but then finds the perfect girl. After a while, man loses girl and must win girl back in a very cliché and unrealistic fashion. What's original about Silver Linings Playbook is that it doesn't follow that mediocre story line in the slightest making it unpredictable but at the same time, more relateable. Chris Tucker is in this movie and even he isn't predictable. Chris Tucker, the loud-mouthed actor who hasn't been in a film without the words 'Rush Hour' in the title for almost 15 years, was surprisingly mellow. Even though he was mellow, he was still very comedic and played a great role in the film.

The most surprising aspect of Silver Linings Playbook, however, was the performance of Bradley Cooper. Even though this is a comedy, Cooper plays what is maybe one of the most serious roles he's ever performed. After audience members witness his work in this film, there shouldn't be any more doubt if the man can act or not. Silver Linings Playbook is without a doubt Cooper's best work thus far in his career. Jennifer Lawrence has a performance of equal caliber but that is expected from the young Academy Award nominated actress. What was surprising about Lawrence's role in the movie, was how adult it was. Fans of Lawrence's work may have been worried that she would be stuck in teenage roles after playing the character Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, but she should silence those doubts after this film with a very adult, yet professional, performance.

Silver Linings Playbook is full of creativity and minimal on romance clichés. It is hands down one of the best romantic comedies to be made within the last couple of years. This film contains many laugh out loud moments and a number of scenes that will warm your heart to the point where you can't help but leave the theater smiling. Silver Linings Playbook is the perfect date movie that both men and women can easily enjoy. A-