MovieChat Forums > Silver Linings Playbook (2012) Discussion > Well Acted, but Difficult to Accept

Well Acted, but Difficult to Accept

posted 10 years ago by Eric266
6 replies | jump to latest

I liked the movie. Hard to dislike something with DeNiro, Cooper and Lawrence. I just couldn't quite accept the portrayal of mental illness as defined in this movie. The way they skipped time periods also lent to my difficulty relating. One minute Pat is manic, and then he's depressed, and then he's out of touch with reality. I've dated a bi-polar person and it doesn't switch around that quickly. In the span of a two hour movie, it just came across as flipping switches rather than a realistic transition from one pole to the other. I understand its supposed to take place over a period of time, but the movie did a poor job of depicting this.

I also think the ending did a disservice to the entire plot of the movie. I admire them depicting two people with mental illness finding love and acceptance, but to have it climax on such a Hollywood-esque happy ending just tainted the story for me. I fully expected Cooper and Lawrence to pull off masks to reveal Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

Why is it every family depicted in the movies and television from Philadelphia are dysfunctional lunatics? Rocky (Paulie and Adrian), Trading Places, Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Woodsman, Silver Linings Playbook, etc.

My memory foam pillow says it can't remember my face. I can tell its lying.

[–] hathawayj1 10 years ago

Spoken like someone who does not have a family history of mental disorders. Lucky you.

[–] vpal9 10 years ago

I think there are wide variety of bi-polar persons. If you know one you can't define other at least as easy as that. It's also possible that your bi-polar friend held back.

Anyway it was kind of obvious that time passed during movie. There were some lines or hints of that. You can check some sports site for that years schedule for Eagles games to know exactly how much time passed.

In the early scenes where Pat rages about the ending of the book kind of takes a stance how the movie would end and i read somewhere that David O'Russell wanted to make this movie to give hope for people who struggle with similar issues in life so i didn't mind at all. This also affected the tone of the movie and depicting Pat's illness.

[–] ladylaughinglizard 10 years ago

I got to say that I dated someone with bipolar disorder for many years and was absolutely in love with them till the day he died (and after that too). I thought his behavior when he was manic was very similiar to Bradley Cooper'd portrayal. I didn't see much if any of the depressive side - so it wouldn't have been a lot of switching in a short time period. That whole "I'm going to remake myself" "I'm going to do this and that." And even the parent's reaction "what's your good news?" With that undertone of "oh no" ... It was very familiar to me. But the ending... I don't know. I agree des they wrapped it up
in a bow - you never saw Lawrence smile the whole movie and suddenly they're all smiles? That part was a little far-fetched.

[–] BGuider31 9 years ago

Well the answer to your question is simple. It's because philly is full of maniacs

[–] kingkass 9 years ago

You can view one person for the whole of bi polar people. What you said was untrue and this film depicts it well.

[–] jeffer23 9 years ago

The movie only had a couple hours for the whole plot and it revolves around Sundays when football occurs. So you don't see the other days of the week and don't need to see them.

Quite often the flipping of switches occurs in people who are bipolar and other mental issues such as depression too. All it takes is a trigger to set off a feeling of negativity, excitement, anger, or whatever. The movie does an excellent job in emulating the medical issue. The director of the movie has a son who is bipolar. And all of the people in the theater scene of the movie are his bipolar friends from school. So first hand knowledge comes into play here from real life experience.

I never really thought of Rocky and Adrian as being dysfunctional, And Trading Places isn't a dysfunctional movie. The Sixth Sense and 12 Monkeys were also filmed in Philadelphia. 12 Monkeys definitely goes with the psychological issues.