Silver Linings Playbook
Academy Award × 1
Rent/Purchase
After losing his job and wife, and spending time in an institution, a former teacher winds up living with his parents. He wants to rebuild his life and reconcile with his wife, but his father would be happy if he shared his obsession with the Philadelphia Eagles. Things get complicated when he meets Tiffany Maxwell who offers to help him reconnect with his wife if he will do something very important for her in exchange.
What critics thought
Russell's film earned broad critical admiration for its performances and its tonal tightrope walk between comedy, romance, and mental illness — but the dissent was pointed. The sharpest disagreement centered on Jennifer Lawrence: most critics treated her Oscar-winning turn as the film's greatest asset, while The New Yorker's two critics independently called it unconvincing, arguing she lacked the wildness the role required. A secondary fault line ran beneath the whole enterprise, with skeptics seeing a slickly engineered crowd-pleaser dressed up as something rawer.
“both as solo screenwriter and director, Russell assembles a small, bubbly cast for an unexpectedly charming romcom that frequently dances — at one point, quite literally — between cynicism and bittersweetness with largely winning results.”
Eric Kohn·IndieWire
“Never one to shy away from unlikely sources of comedy, David O. Russell tackles mental illness, marital failure and the curative powers of football and dance with bracingly sharp and satisfying results.”
Justin Chang·Variety
“a miscalculation from beginning to end”
David Denby·The New Yorker
“I'm finding it hard not to make fun of the film's highly constructed and narrow-bore array of givens, of plot points and their resolutions.”
Richard Brody·The New Yorker
“you can easily see Silver Linings Playbook as a better-acted version of any number of Sundance-style films about quirky outsiders who find a common bond.”
Liam Lacey·The Globe and Mail
Genres
Comedy, Drama, Romance
Cast & Crew
DirectorDavid O. Russell
StarringBradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, Anupam Kher
ComposerDanny Elfman
Silver Linings Playbook
Academy Award × 1
After losing his job and wife, and spending time in an institution, a former teacher winds up living with his parents. He wants to rebuild his life and reconcile with his wife, but his father would be happy if he shared his obsession with the Philadelphia Eagles. Things get complicated when he meets Tiffany Maxwell who offers to help him reconnect with his wife if he will do something very important for her in exchange.
What critics thought
Russell's film earned broad critical admiration for its performances and its tonal tightrope walk between comedy, romance, and mental illness — but the dissent was pointed. The sharpest disagreement centered on Jennifer Lawrence: most critics treated her Oscar-winning turn as the film's greatest asset, while The New Yorker's two critics independently called it unconvincing, arguing she lacked the wildness the role required. A secondary fault line ran beneath the whole enterprise, with skeptics seeing a slickly engineered crowd-pleaser dressed up as something rawer.
“both as solo screenwriter and director, Russell assembles a small, bubbly cast for an unexpectedly charming romcom that frequently dances — at one point, quite literally — between cynicism and bittersweetness with largely winning results.”
Eric Kohn·IndieWire
“Never one to shy away from unlikely sources of comedy, David O. Russell tackles mental illness, marital failure and the curative powers of football and dance with bracingly sharp and satisfying results.”
Justin Chang·Variety
“a miscalculation from beginning to end”
David Denby·The New Yorker
“I'm finding it hard not to make fun of the film's highly constructed and narrow-bore array of givens, of plot points and their resolutions.”
Richard Brody·The New Yorker
“you can easily see Silver Linings Playbook as a better-acted version of any number of Sundance-style films about quirky outsiders who find a common bond.”
Liam Lacey·The Globe and Mail
Genres
Comedy, Drama, Romance
Cast & Crew
DirectorDavid O. Russell
StarringBradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, Anupam Kher
ComposerDanny Elfman
Rent/Purchase