Done.
It was cute enough, but I didn’t like it. It was basically a classic manic pixie dreamgirl flick, and that whole scene was old a long time ago.
I’ve heard the manic pixie dreamgirl complaint elsewhere, and I don’t really understand it, unless for some people, “manic pixie dreamgirl” has evolved to mean simply “young, attractive woman” at this point. Tiffany has got a lot of issues that she’s dealing with, like the death of her husband and her losing her job. The fact that she has had a life, her own sexual and romantic history, and her own problems outside of the lead male character means that she’s not a MPDG. She’s not bubbly or girlish, and while I imagine that a lot of people would point to the dance competition as a MPDG signpost, she wants to win because she wants to win, not just to make Pat feel happier or more alive or whatever. If she has her own motivations that don’t just revolve around the male lead, then she’s not a MPDG.
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I’ve heard the manic pixie dreamgirl complaint elsewhere, and I don’t really understand it
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Especially since the male lead here is the one whose (literally) manic.
Mrs. Mahaloth and I thought it was OK. Not great, but adequate.
We laughed when they cheered at their “5” score, and a bit in the beginning. I found it to be watchable, but not amazing. I give it a 6/10.
If you’re interested you might next check out Limitless for Bradley Cooper, and Winter’s Bone for Jennifer Lawrence (she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for it). Both are must-sees, IMO, as movies and for their performances.
If then you want more Cooper, he was very good in Hit and Run, and The Words. If you then want more Lawrence, she was very good in The Hunger Games (warning though, it’s the 1st of 3 books/4 movies-they’re splitting the 3rd book into 2 films).
Thanks. I now recall her in Winter’s Bone, just didn’t remember it. I would like more of her, but in a creepy, perverted way. I’m completely unaware of Cooper. When he had his first closeup in the film, I thought perhaps he was related to Ralph Fiennes.
He was also one of the leads in The Hangover.
I’ve heard that the guy who played Bradley Cooper’s father has been in some other movies too, but it must be nice for him to get some Oscar recognition too. 
That’s not the sort of movie I enjoy, so wouldn’t have seen him there.
This is my thought exactly.
In a bit of unintentional comedy however there was the moment when Bradley Cooper and Round Face Jennifer Lawrence were comparing drugs, and when they gave their “worst final four” kinda thing I noticed that I’m on two of em!
Basically the epitome of “hahaha…wait…what?”
I didn’t love it, but I liked it a lot. I liked that they didn’t make Bradley Cooper’s mania “quirky” or “fun,” but showed how difficult people like him are to deal with. I really like Jennifer Lawrence both as an actress and a cutie pie, though I feel a bit weird about the latter, since I’m old enough to be her dad. The early bits were kind of hard to watch, especially the awkward, uncomfortable dinner party. For some reason I find torture scenes easier to watch than excruciating awkwardness. I did like the dance training scenes, Cooper and Lawrence have a lot of chemistry. I liked watching DeNiro play someone other than a world weary cop/criminal, and Chris Tucker actually act.
I could see the ending coming from a mile away, but I still smiled when it happened.
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.
Cooper was in the TV show Alias for the first few seasons, the show that launched Jennifer Garner’s career.
I had the opposite take, I thought the movie kinda chickened out on its premise of having two characters that are mentally ill. For example. we find out Cooper’s big freak-out was due to his finding his wife with another man. Obviously beating the guy up and then obsessing over getting his wife back isn’t very healthy, but its not really anything you need a mental illness to explain. Plenty of people without mental health issues have done the same.
Similarly, Lawrence doesn’t seem to be depressed, she’s sad her husband died. Again, she’s not dealing with it very well (sleeping around and acting out) but its not really a mental illness, she’s just sad because of a legitimately tragic event.
Oddly the only character that seemed to have a real mental illness was DeNiro’s gambling addiction, and that goes almost totally un-remarked by the characters.
So I thought it failed as a movie about mental illness. And I didn’t think it was very funny, so it failed as a comedy. So I agree with what seems to be the thread consensus of “meh”.
I don’t think it was beating up his wife’s lover that showed Cooper as being bipolar, it was things like waking his parents up at 4am to denounce Hemingway, becoming violent upon hearing Stevie Wonder, and screaming loud enough to wake the neighbors–and hitting his mom–when he couldn’t find his wedding video. After that he did agree to take his meds and became more stable.
I don’t think it was ever suggested that Lawrence was anything but grief stricken and coping poorly with her husbands death.
The Dad was a bookie, he took other people’s bets. He didn’t have a gambling problem of his own. . . mostly. The big bet that put him in a hole with his friend was unusual for him. Now, I’ll grant that attempting to settle a gambling bet by placing another bigger bet (which he then proceeded to do) is pretty damn symptomatic of a gambling addiction but still the majority of his involvement with gambling is as a bookie.
His mental illness manifested itself in his obsessive compulsive disorder- needing the remote control in the exact right spot, his numbered envelopes, the myriad of game day rituals that had to be observed, and the great anxiety caused by his belief in charms and jinxes.
The fact that his problems are not addressed with proper concern from his family members is part of the storytelling, part of how we get to know his son.
His son grew up around mental illness that was denied as being any kind of a real problem. His mother denied her husband’s illness for years, then proceeded to remove her son from the hospital early because “He’s fine, he just needed to rest”. When Bradley Cooper’s character finally decides to actually deal with his own illness he is breaking a cycle that has been in place for a very long time. I actually liked how the director chose to show just enough for us to know that the father’s unaddressed illness cause many problems for the family over the year, but we’re left to only imagine what the specifics may have been. There’s no grand apology monologue, or grand indictment monologue when we here the long list of all the problems the father has been the root of. We just know enough to know that problems were there for long time.
I’m glad to see someone else mention this. As I noted upthread, I though Chris Tucker was awesome in this movie. I liked the movie over all, but there were problems trying to find the balance of addressing mental illness realistically while also delivering the story as a light comedy. It was a very fine line to walk, and I think Chris Tucker was the only one to walk that line flawlessly.
I really liked it. I liked the way they developed the mystery behind what happened before he went to the mental hospital. I loved the mother and even Chris Tucker was good.
For me it is a really solid movie.
I liked it quite a bit, though not as much as I expected to, but that’s more due to all the hype it got before it finally made it to a theater near me.
I like the fact that a Jennifer Lawrence - a girl who is just average looking- is being aknowledged for her amazing acting skills. My boyfriend and I agree that though she isn’t classically beautiful, she is very appealing.
The soundtrack was brilliant. I especially liked the Bradley Cooper / Led Zeppelin What is and What Should Never Be sequence. What an effective use of music for that scene.
I haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere, but did anyone else notice Bradley Cooper’s pupils were constantly dilated? I couldn’t tell if we’re meant to notice it, like maybe to indicate the medication he was on(?) If it wasn’t intentional, wouldn’t the production team notice it?I won’t say I found it *distracting * exactly, but very noticable and it was the first thing I commented on afterward.Also, how does a person’s pupils remain perpetually dilated on a film set with bright lights all around them? If it was intentional, say maybe CGId later, than I think that is a nifty little detail.
I thought DeNiro was his usual self, which is to say I love the guy and he delivered exactly what I’ve come to expect and like. No more no less this time around.
Finally, can someone tell me what the mother was always preparing for game day? I think it was crab cakes and “homemades”?
Are there any apartments opening up in your neighborhood?
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.