SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
Grade: B+
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert DeNiro, Jacki Weaver, Anupam Kher and Chris Tucker
Premise: Believing he still has a chance with his estranged (ex) wife, an optimistic man gets out of a mental hospital and tries to improve his personality by fostering a friendship with an odd young woman who lives down the street.

Rated R for language, intense emotional content and some sexual material

Picture this: a book you love is turned into a movie, and you're interested enough in the story and characters to see it, but you're terrified what they (the screenwriters and [producers) might do to change it. Then you see the movie, and you suffer that horribly awkward mental/emotional complex where you liked the movie, but it is (depending on the story in question) noticeably different from the book you came to know and adore, so it both does and does not feel like an accurate representation. Does that make any sense? Fans of The Hunger Games, Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings will know where I'm coming from. Twenty-four hours after seeing Silver Linings Playbook, screenwriter/director David O. Russell's adaptation of Matthew Quick's wonderful, offbeat novel of the same title, I'm suffering that very thing. It's like going through withdrawal--some of the book's characters, dialogues, plot points and themes were represented well, while other big changes were made that I'm not happy about (why didn't they just do it like the book did it?). And, of course, I wonder if Matthew Quick himself A) approved the script, B) will see the movie, and C) will like it.

Like I said, I've been through this before. I thought The Hunger Games movie was solid but was extremely critical of some of the Harry Potter flicks, and I read "The Silver Linings Playbook" just last week, bought it, and re-read it because I thought it was terrific, so of course it's fresh in my mind. Well, it has to be darn near impossible to make a barely-two-hour movie a fantastically accurate reflection of a 290-page book (let alone one in which the last third is mostly composed of letters written from one character to another), so I knew the challenges O. Russell's adaptation would face. Quick's novel uses a lot of descriptions in place of dialogue, centers around a very unconventional relationship, deals with some sobering/difficult issues, and ends on a note that both is and is not satisfying. As I expected, the movie is considerably more upbeat and a lot more accessible, increasing the amount of dialogue, upping the romantic ante and downplaying two of the major conflicts. Without giving away anything specific, I can also say the primary difference between the Silver Linings book and movie reflects the same  structural difference between the Two Towers book and movie. In J.R.R. Tolkien's text, the siege of Helm's Deep was a mere chapter; in Peter Jackson's 2002 film, it was half the movie. That's the key difference to the Silver Linings--an event that is important but not that important becomes the centerpiece of the movie, which requires a lot of tweaking of dialogue and smaller plot points and characterizations. It also necessitates a rather different ending. But if you haven't read the book, that means absolutely nothing to you, so...

Ultimately, though I've been wringing my hands over the differences between book and movie for the last day, I would say David O. Russell succeeded in doing what movie adaptations of books and other mediums always aim to do: respectfully acknowledge and reference the major characters, events, and themes of the original work while also creating some new life in a stand-alone project. Yes, O. Russell did it.

Plot: Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper) has been in a mental institution for eight months, fulfilling his end of the deal on a plea bargain that he entered after he beat the bejeezus out of a man his wife (Brea Bee) was cheating on him with. Turns out, this sloppy workaholic had also suffered from bipolar disorder his entire life and not known it. But after eight months of medication and open talking sessions and self-help slogans, he has a new, positive (some would say naive) lease on life, is in great physical shape, and is ready to go home. When his mother (Jacki Weaver) is able to get the courts to approve his release, he rejoins his family. He's not completely well, though. He's still obsessed with finding, and getting back together with, his ex-wife (who he doesn't really believe no longer wants anything to do with him). He doesn't believe a restraining order really means he can't go back to work at the high school where he used to teach as a substitute. And he also has "diarrhea of the mouth", wherein he says pretty much anything that comes to his mind (as one character puts it bluntly: "you say more inappropriate things than appropriate things"). He's also prone to tense, sometimes-violent tantrums. All these things stand in the way of his truly reconciling his relationships with his mother, his father (Robert DeNiro), his older brother (Shea Whigham) and his old best friend (John Ortiz), despite the help of a kindly therapist (Anupam Kher). He's also being occasionally dogged by a police officer (Dash Mihok) who knows he isn't in his right mind.

One night at a dinner party, he meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a friend's pretty but spacey sister-in-law who, it turns out, is nearly as blunt and socially awkward as he is. When Tiffany suddenly tries to seduce him, Pat turns her down out of respect for his wife (as he calls her; he still wears the ring, after all). But this interaction nonetheless gives him an idea: maybe his befriending this notorious, apparently-friendless girl (who has curiously started following him around on his daily runs around the neighborhood) could win him some brownie points with his ex, making him look like a kind, considerate guy. Though a dinner date goes badly when Tiffany explodes and begins shouting obscenities in public, she soon approaches Pat with an interesting offer: be her partner in an upcoming popular ballroom dance competition, and she'll put in a good word with his ex, whom she and her sister (Julia Stiles) occasionally spend time with. He agrees, and they're soon spending hours in Tiffany's personal dance studio, working on a routine. But Pat's unique relationship with the eccentric Tiffany soon raises a lot of uncomfortable questions with her parents, his parents, her sister, and his therapist.

What Works?
Since I read the book first and have a great amount of affection for it, of course it's easier for me to think of things I did not like about Silver Linings Playbook, but it nonetheless takes a lot of steps in the right direction. The pace is quick, the mood is much more upbeat, even playful (the book can be very somber as it explores Pat's honest, sometimes-depressing view of his life and relationships), and the big dance-off is a treat (it includes a classic yuk involving a lift gone very wrong).

This being a David O. Russell film, though (like I Heart Huccabees and The Fighter), the most important aspect of Silver Linings Playbook is obviously the actors and their portrayals. While a few of the characters get left out to dry by the transition to movie (particularly Pat's therapist), most of them are brilliant. I haven't seen any of Bradley Cooper's big movies to date (The Hangover, Limitless, The Words), but I was really impressed with his work here. From book to movie, the character has become a lot more outspoken and blunt and erratic, and Cooper gives it his all in a manic, determined performance. Robert DeNiro also does some of his most sincere work in years as Pat's sensitive father. Jacki Weaver is perfectly cast as Pat's sympathetic mother, and Chris Tucker has a few good moments as a buddy from the mental institution, but the real actor to watch is Jennifer Lawrence. I knew the Hunger Games star was one of the favorites in the Best Actress Oscar race for this performance going in (which didn't surprise me, as Tiffany on the page is one of the most complex and interesting female characters I've ever read), and Lawrence proves an absolute pistol. Shaking off the withdrawn sullenness that sometimes hindered her portrayals in Games and in last year's The Beaver, Lawrence makes Tiffany exactly who she's supposed to be, an unpredictable, self-centered and occasionally crude woman who tends to drive people away even though what she really clearly wants is to be loved and cared for. Screaming insults or self-degrading remarks at the top of her lungs or breaking down at mentions of her recently-deceased husband, Lawrence honors Matthew Quick's most poignant, memorable character.

What Doesn't Work?
Oh boy. The things I could say here...

Well, let me just put it this way. Though there were a bunch of differences in dialogue and event sequence and character importance, Silver Linings did the book impressive justice for two-thirds of its run-time. Though different, it was essentially on course. Then it completely deviated, started to come back, then deviated again (in my opinion, even though there was a major plot change, they still had a chance to return to the book's very particular brand of drama again, but they mostly missed it). I won't use specifics, but, in my view, the ending was a little cheap. Though it gets to the same ultimate destination, the movie goes for a more obvious and plain emotional payoff than Quick's gorgeous, emotionally-fragile writing. In fact, I'm extremely frustrated, because as good as Cooper and Lawrence are, their potential best dramatic moments are taken from them by this big tonal change, which ultimately leads to an ending that feels uncannily like a mushy Valentine's Day treat movie, as opposed to the grittier, more idiosyncratic nature of the happenings in the book.

On a completely subjective note, however, there are a few things I'd quibble about in any movie, like the plausibility that a man is able to publicly approach a woman with a restraining order against him to the point that he's able to whisper in her ear--with that Dash Mihok police officer watching. But I digress.

Content: As in the book, there are many uses of colorful language (like words that start with "f" and "s"), which is the main reason the film is rated R. There is a brief shot of a woman in the shower, an uncomfortable family tussle, some suggestive dancing and even some descriptive sexual dialogue, but, as with the book, there are no unnecessary romantic/sexual pit stops. This story is more focused and serious than that.

Bottom Line (I Promise): I love the book, and, though I could say a lot of things about how it's different, I enjoyed the movie Silver Linings Playbook. It does the book justice for the most part, but it does its stars even more (it's a must-see for fans of Cooper and Lawrence), and it leaves you feeling hopeful.

Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
Directed by David O. Russell
Screenplay by David O. Russell; based on the novel "The Silver Linings Playbook' by Matthew Quick
Rated R
Length: 122 minutes