O Lado Bom da Vida

"I'm remaking myself." Pat (Bradley Cooper)

Silver Linings Playbook doesn't play by the current romantic comedy book—No scatology, nudity, f-bombing, or feminist and gay bashing. It's simply a smart playbook about the mental institution's recently-released Pat Solitano (Cooper, shedding his Hangover boy-man shtick), who may be saner than his dad, an OCD gambler (Robert De Niro), and Bradley's new friend, Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence).

But that comparison is all relative because director David O. Russell (remember his funky family in Flirting with Disaster?) allows each character in this dramedy to become whole and interesting without becoming marginalized.

After some serious outbursts of anger, Pat starts training for a dance competition with Tiffany in order to make contact with and eventually impress his estranged wife, Nikki (Brea Bee).

The eventualities of the story are not half as stimulating as the plot along the way, some of the best scenes centered around the family squabbling about the Philadelphia Eagles or Pat's relationship with that "slut," Tiffany. When Pat confronts his parents at 4 AM about the deficiency of Hemingway's ending to A Farewell to Arms and when Russell places under another scene Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash singing Girl from the North Country, you know you're in a film that follows no particular playbook.

The dynamics as fostered by these superior actors are some of the best ensemble work this year. In fact, this is so far the best of the romantic comedies in recent memory. Pat and Tiffany may be bi-polar, but they can dance the stars into your eyes.

Jennifer Lawrence plays so different a character from those in Winter's Bone and Hunger Games that it may take you a scene or two to recognize her. But when she dances, you'll confirm she's one of the best young actresses in Hollywood, and this film one of the best of the year.

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.

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.

Based on a novel by Matthew Quick, David O Russell has both written and directed this variation on the romantic comedy in which both main characters are deeply damaged and variably medicated.

Patrick used to be a teacher before he beat up a fellow teacher (he deserved it) and was diagnosed as bi-polar and confined to a mental institution for eight months. Tiffany used to be married to a cop who died in circumstances for which she feels blame and she has not been behaving as quietly and demurely as is expected of the newly bereaved. Both lead roles are played by attractive and talented young actors: Bradley Cooper ("The Hangover") and Jennifer Lawrence ("The Hunger Games") and, by the time I caught up with the movie on DVD, Lawrence had been awarded a deserved Academy Award for Best Actress for this quirky performance.

One of the distinctive features of this wonderful film is that most of the characters are obsessive to one extent and in one form or another, most notably Pat's father who is charmingly portrayed by veteran Robert de Niro. At turns funny and poignant, this is at heart a plea for us to be tolerant of others because - let's face it - we're all a little crazy.

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.