# Silver Linings Playbook: Opinions? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 26, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-playbook-opinions/642201 "2012-11-26T21:22:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-playbook-opinions/642201/42 "2013-02-04T17:30:20Z")
I pretty much agree with what other posters have said – first half of the film being a pretty good depiction of mental disorder, second half kind of copping out on that… although I still enjoyed it a lot. I’d say it’s pretty clear, though, that this is not going to be a “happily ever after” situation… Tiffany seemed to be somewhere between extremely immature (like, an emotional age of about 8) and downright evil… totally self-centered and manipulative. Not that the other main characters are angels, but they at least seemed to have a general sense of humanity, whereas she struck me as more on the sociopathic side. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-playbook-opinions/642201/43 "2013-02-05T03:54:34Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > Are there any apartments opening up in your neighborhood? I saw her first! ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-playbook-opinions/642201/44 "2013-02-05T04:32:10Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > I pretty much agree with what other posters have said – first half of the film being a pretty good depiction of mental disorder, second half kind of copping out on that… Bingo. I went in with really high expectations and the first third or half lived up to them. Them he suddenly becomes a basically normal guy and the movie becomes a rom com. Each half was OK (the first half better because it was more interesting and new) but they didn’t go together. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-playbook-opinions/642201/45 "2013-02-05T09:48:20Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > I pretty much agree with what other posters have said – first half of the film being a pretty good depiction of mental disorder, second half kind of copping out on that… > [@gigi](#): > > Bingo. I went in with really high expectations and the first third or half lived up to them. Them he suddenly becomes a basically normal guy and the movie becomes a rom com. I liked the film overall, but what I think weakened it was the difficulty of balancing a realistic depiction of mental illness with the light comedy. Thus, I had more trouble with the _first_ half of the movie. I agree with both of you that the first half deals more seriously with the mental illness issues but the first half also has plenty of light comedy material. So the first half of the movie had more opportunities to annoy me with the balance being off- there’d be realistic mental illness scenes trivialized by inserting the light comedy material. Everything after the scene when Tiffany confronts Pat’s dad after the arrest at the Iggles game (my favorite scene) commits to being a light comedy. So, I prefer the second half of the movie to the first. It’s not that I prefer a light comedy opposed to a realistic depiction of mental illness, but I prefer one or the other opposed to a movie doing both but not balancing them well. Aside from individual scenes, there’s no part of the movie that commits to being a realistic depiction of mental illness. There _is_ however the third act of the movie that commits to being a light comedy- so that’s the part I ended up liking best. **Larry Borgia** , if the women in **WOOKINPANUB** ’s neighborhood are _on average_ as attractive as Jennifer Lawrence then I think you and I can peacefully coexist for quite some time without our ships ever even passing in the night. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-playbook-opinions/642201/46 "2013-02-05T10:47:18Z")
I would like to discuss the meta aspects of the movie. in a way O. Russell has done the same exact thing he did with _The Fighter_: if then he followed the well-treaded path of the sports underdog movie, only to fill it with naturalistic depictions of quirky characters, \*Playbook \*also hits ever goalpost of your standard Hollywood rom-com. It’s not the plot what makes the movie stand out, however, it’s the style, way closer to your standard indie mumblecore flick with uncomfortable emotional outbursts than the mild mind-numbing rom-com it resembles (parodies, even) ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-playbook-opinions/642201/47 "2013-02-05T11:18:46Z")
Eh, I would definitely describe myself as a David O. Russell fan but I don’t think there’s that much to it. It’s a good movie, I like it, but it’s a lesser work in the context of his career. I don’t think he’s making any commentary on the genre. I think he was very much attempting to make a commercially viable film while trying to hang onto a certain DOR-ness so as to feel like he was still putting himself into the work. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-playbook-opinions/642201/48 "2013-02-05T19:27:40Z")
I hadn’t realized until this thread that\* Silver Linings \*and \*The Fighter \*had the same director, and it makes for an interesting comparison. I didn’t enjoy \*The Fighter \*because I basically hated all the characters. Both brothers, the mother, the sisters – _especially_ the sisters! – were people I did not want to spend time with and had trouble even watching for 2 hours. Amy Adams’s character should have run as fast and as far from this family as her legs would take her. _Silver Linings_ could have fallen into the same trap but didn’t, IMO. Yes, we’re dealing with flawed, damaged people who do some rather bad things. But they manage to avoid being flat-out unlikeable because we can see them wanting and trying to be better people. Pat and Tiffany both had plenty of reasons not to like them, yet I ended up rooting for them anyway. That was a tough line for the cast to walk, and they pulled it off brilliantly. In _The Fighter_, I was rooting for _bad_ things to happen to the characters, and I don’t think that was the intent. > [@Morbo](#): > > It’s funny when you know the crammed-in happy ending is coming but you don’t care b/c the movie has earned it. See, maybe I’m just thick, but I didn’t see the happy ending coming. With the Hemingway references, and all the talk of DeSean Jackson’s famous fumble at the 1-yard line, I thought there was pretty heavy foreshadowing for a non-happy ending. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop at the end, and was somewhat pleasantly surprised when it didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-playbook-opinions/642201/49 "2013-02-05T22:31:00Z")
So, what are “crabby snacks and homemades” anyway? Philadelphians, educate me! ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-playbook-opinions/642201/50 "2013-02-05T23:02:04Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > So, what are “crabby snacks and homemades” anyway? Philadelphians, educate me! I Googled “sliver linings playbook homemades” and got this: > **['Homemades' And 'Crabby Snacks' From Silver Linings Playbook](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/academy-awards-food-silver-linings_n_2553131)** > > Behind the mysterious snack featured in Silver Linings Playbook. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2013, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-playbook-opinions/642201/51 "2013-02-06T21:53:04Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I Googled “sliver linings playbook homemades” and got this: > > [Academy Awards Food: Silver Linings Playbook 'Homemades' And 'Crabby Snacks' | HuffPost Life](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/28/academy-awards-food-silver-linings_n_2553131.html) Uuuummm, egg noodles. /Homer ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2013, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-playbook-opinions/642201/52 "2013-03-10T18:26:40Z")
Just saw it a few days ago. I liked it but didn’t love it. It was an odd mix of romcom/sports comedy/mental health “message” movie, and yet somehow it worked. Great cast, interesting story… but still, I thought it just didn’t quite rise to the level of film excellence that would warrant all of the Golden Globe and Oscar attention. I’d give it a solid B+. > [@Equipoise](#): > > If you’re interested you might next check out [Limitless](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1219289/) for Bradley Cooper… Oh, definitely. A fantastic technothriller, and one of my favorite movies of recent years. Bonus: De Niro is in it, too, as Cooper’s business mentor and later rival. _Very_ different dynamic compared to their father-son relationship in SLP. > [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > …I liked watching DeNiro play someone other than a world weary cop/criminal, and Chris Tucker actually act. > > …A neat bit of foreshadowing: In the beginning Cooper hurls Hemingway out the window, and complains " Why can’t there just be a happy ending? They made it. Why not leave it there?" And of course that’s just what happened. Agreed on all counts. I must admit the Hemingway foreshadowing went right over my head - nicely done. ---
**Author:** ![BrokenBriton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@BrokenBriton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrokenBriton)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-playbook-opinions/642201/53 "2013-03-10T19:23:18Z")
Pretty obtuse, but I kept try to prevent myself from comparing this with Little Miss Sunshine. If I could be more bothered I’d try and work out why. Anyway, this passed a couple of hours better. ---
**Author:** ![67java89](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/aeb1de/32.png) [@67java89](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/67java89)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-playbook-opinions/642201/54 "2013-05-06T21:32:38Z")
Also, Lawrence’s character said she was depressed and lost interest in sex before her husband died > [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > Just came back from watching this. Lawrence slept with every person in her office, compared notes on a large number of antidepressants, was viewed by the male lead as crazier than himself, and chased a person she barely knew through the streets for several days. > > I thought the characters were (conveniently) exactly as crazy as they needed to be for a edgy romantic comedy. Didn’t like the film. Thought there was nothing cute about a guy trying to subvert a restraining order, even if it was later revealed his ex-wife still had feelings for him. And I absolutely knew he wouldn’t be getting back together with her, when she showed up for the dance and she was less attractive than the star. (I just strongly suspected before then.) > > I did like Lawrence’s earlier film “Winter’s Bone”, although that was decidedly less upbeat movie. And in this movie I did like Mom and Chris Tucker. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-playbook-opinions/642201/55 "2013-05-07T03:17:04Z")
I thought Lawrence’s character was over written. The rest flowed. One of my my favorite lines: Chris Tucker helping them in rehearsal—“Black it up!” ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-playbook-opinions/642201/56 "2013-05-11T17:46:02Z")
We found it to be an okay movie. Not great. The pre-contest “half” (80%?) was hard to watch because of the dysfunctional family stuff. Went on too long and drove the point home and 20 feet into the ground. Lacking in more meaningful development. The contest part just plain sucked. The betting part wasn’t in the book and took out the last bits of quality in the movie. A terrible way to handle the ending. My question: How much setting up was going on with Pat’s parents and Tiffany? Pat Sr. told Tiffany about Pat’s jogging so she could “run” into him. Tiffany’s tirade about Phillie teams winning when they were together was overly planned with the inevitable Pat Sr. suddenly accepting Tiffany. The little scene with their parents together. Etc. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-playbook-opinions/642201.md?page=2)