Silver Linings Playbook

 

2012

The Weinstein Company

Screenplay and Directed by David O. Russell

Executive Producer: Jonathan Gordon

Produced by Bruce Cohen and Donna Gigliotti

Based on the novel “The Silver Linings Playbook” by Matthew Quick

The first twenty minutes or so into SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK I fidgeted, I admit it. But that’s because I couldn’t tell which way this movie was going to go with its characters or their story. I didn’t know much about this movie outside of that it starred Bradley Cooper and Robert DeNiro, who had previously worked together in “Limitless.” But it vaguely looked to me like a romantic comedy and I’m leery of that genre. Which I shouldn’t have been. I’ve watched romantic comedies like SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK that actually are intelligent, character-driven and don’t follow the silly, sappy paint-by-the-numbers plots of most romantic comedies. And this movie isn’t all comedy. There’s just as much drama as comedy here and the story goes in directions that can’t be anticipated because of the unpredictability of the characters. Even the ones who aren’t crazy.

After eight months of treatment for bipolar disorder in a mental health facility, Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper) is released into the care of his parents (Robert DeNiro and Jacki Weaver). His intention is to get his life back on track and a large part of that is reconciling with his wife Nikki (Brea Bee) That’s a situation that is going to take a whole lot of work since Pat tried to beat to death the man Nikki was having an affair with and she has a restraining order against him. Pat attends his court mandated therapy sessions with Dr. Patel (Anupam Kher) and tries his best to stay out of trouble. But since he refuses to take his medication that leads him into several situations where it seems as if he may have to go back to the facility.

It’s through his friendship with Tiffany Maxwell (Jennifer Lawrence) whose emotional trauma following the death of her husband caused her to become addicted to sex that Pat sees an opportunity to communicate with Nikki. Tiffany agrees but only under the condition that Pat will be her partner in an upcoming dance competition. I would not dream of telling you how the outcome of a Philadelphia Eagles football game is tied into the dance competition. I’ll only say that it’s a nifty plot twist that I did not see coming and once it did I was grinning like a fool.

And I guess that’s the main thing I can throw at you to recommend SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK: it’s determination not to be a typical romantic comedy. There is simply no way to predict how the movie will end and to enhance your enjoyment of it, I advise that you don’t even try. Our two main characters have certifiable mental/emotional problems but that doesn’t mean that everybody else in the movie is a model of stability, either. In fact, as I got more of an insight into the history of the relationship between Pat and his father I understood more and more why the father was so patient and understanding of his son’s problems.

The acting in this is top-notch. Bradley Cooper continues to be an interesting actor to watch develop. I enjoyed him in high-octane, big budget franchise movies such as the two “Hangover” movies and “The A-Team” and he’s proven that he can hold his own in character driven dramas such as “The Words.” Here in SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK he mixes comedy into the drama and acquits himself well.

Jennifer Lawrence is flat out terrific in this one but so far I’ve loved her performance in everything she’s done. Even though I couldn’t stand “Winter’s Bone” I always recommend the movie based solely on the strength of her performance which is outstanding. Equally outstanding was her performance in “X-Men: First Class” and while I felt that “The Hunger Games” was just a so-so movie, again she gave the performance that made the whole movie worth watching.

Julia Stiles has a small role in this and I always enjoy seeing her work as she’s just plain fun to watch. I was disappointed that Chris Tucker didn’t have more to do as for once he actually gets to play a human being instead of a live-action cartoon as he usually does in movies like the awful “Rush Hour” series. Robert DeNiro can do no wrong in my eyes and I’m embarrassed to say that I went through the entire movie thinking that the wonderful Jacki Weaver was Sally Struthers until I saw her name in the end credits.

So should you see SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK? If you want to see a romantic comedy-drama that doesn’t waste your time with boring idiot characters or a story you’ve seen played out in a dozen other romantic comedies, absolutely. It’s a great date movie. Enjoy.

 

Rated R

122 minutes

Limitless

2011

Relativity Media

Directed by Neil Burger

Produced by Leslie Dixon and Ryan Kavanaugh

Screenplay by Leslie Dixon

Based on the novel “The Dark Fields” by Alan Glynn

LIMITLESS is the latest entry in what I call Genie Movies.  You know how this goes: Our Hero finds a bottle containing a genie.  He opens it up and the genie proceeds to give Our Hero everything he wants.  Women, money, fame, the ability to hit perfect home runs, a mint condition copy of “Fantastic Four” #1.  But then the downside kicks in and Our Hero realizes that the consequences of his wishes get him into trouble.  So he makes more wishes to correct the mistakes of the previous wishes and that gets him into even worse trouble.  And then he gets the bright idea of wishing the genie back into the bottle and then the real horror of his situation punches him dead in his eye: once the genie is let out of his bottle, there’s no way to put him back in.

Our Hero this time around is Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) an alcoholic writer who is on the verge of having to return his book advance because he’s spending more time at the local pub talking about his book rather than writing it.  His girlfriend Lindy (Abby Cornish) leaves him.  Not because she doesn’t love him but because he has no ambition, no direction, no focus.

One day while on his way to the bar, Eddie runs into his ex-brother-in-law Vernon (Johnny Whitworth) and over drinks, Eddie pours out his tale of woe.  Amazingly, Vernon has the proverbial bottle with a genie in it.  In this instance the genie is a small clear pill that is a new drug, NZT-48.  A drug Vernon claims will make Eddie smarter.

Eddie figures he’s got nothing to lose and so pops the pill.   Four days after that he’s finished his book.  Eddie’s more focused than he’s ever been.  He can remember everything he’s ever seen, heard or read in his life.  Google googles him for information.  His increased deductive reasoning abilities make him capable of looking at you and telling what you had for breakfast, lunch and dinner a year ago.  And best of all, he is able to use his newfound intelligence to discern significant patterns in massive amounts of otherwise seemingly unrelated information.  This enables him to amass a tremendous fortune playing The Stock Market.

Such spectacular success brings him to the attention of quite a few folks.  There’s Carl Von Loon (Robert DeNiro) a ruthless businessman involved in a potentially world changing energy deal.  Von Loon quickly makes it clear that if Eddie isn’t working for him, then he ain’t working.  Then there’s a strange guy wearing a tan coat that seems to be everywhere Eddie is.  And there’s Gennady (Andrew Howard) a Russian mobster who gets his hands on a tab of NZT-48 and likes what it’s doing to him.  And wants more of it.  A lot more.

And if that wasn’t enough, his daily ingesting of the drug is apparently having side effects.  He’s losing whole days and there’s the possibility he may have killed someone during one of his blackouts.  By now, not only can he not put the genie back in the bottle, said genie is quite enthusiastically kicking him in his ass.  His NZT-48 enhanced intelligence got him into this but can it get him out?

I knew the basic premise of LIMITLESS going in but I didn’t know it would be so much fun.  It actually starts off like a comedy and gradually shifts gears as the story gets darker and more serious.  And it’s done so smoothly that before you know it you’ve gone from laughing to flinching.  Especially during the really bloody resolution to one of Eddie’s problems.

A large part of what makes this movie so interesting to watch is the very original visual style the director uses to show how the drug is working on Eddie.  Those of you reading this who are writers will probably be just as tickled as I was at the scene where Eddie’s writer’s block is broken and the words start flowing.

Bradley Cooper is really coming along as an actor.  He’s a good-looking guy but he’s not afraid to come off looking really greasy and cruddy looking as he does in the beginning of this movie.  He looks nothing like the Eddie he becomes once he starts taking the drug.  I kinda liked that as it gave the movie a sort of Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde vibe to Eddie.  Robert DeNiro is really cool in this movie as he never tries to steal a scene or make a scene of his more than what it’s supposed to be.  If anybody’s a scene stealer in the movie, it’s Andrew Howard.  Watching how NZT-48 works his magic on him is hilarious and bone-chilling at the same time.

So should you see LIMITLESS?  Absolutely.  It’s a thriller that does exactly what a thriller is supposed to do: thrill.  And does it in dynamite style.  Enjoy.

105 minutes

PG-13

Angel Heart

1987

Carolco Entertainment/TriStar

Directed by Alan Parker
Produced by Andrew Vajna and Mario Kassar
Screenplay by Alan Parker
Based on the novel “Falling Angel” by William Hjortsberg

Now here’s a movie that got into my head the very first time I saw it and squirmed around in there for a few days and made a nice little bloody nest where it stayed festering and feeding on my subconscious.  ANGEL HEART remains one of my personal favorites because it is photographed so well, the performances are all outstanding and it combines the private eye and supernatural genres flawlessly. It’s a hell of a movie and given the subject matter, I mean that quite literally.

Harry Angel (Mickey Rourke) is a private detective operating in 1955 New York. And he’s definitely not Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe. When we first see him he looks like he’s barely recovered from a three-day binge. He’s contacted by a lawyer named Winesap (“Law & Order” regular Dann Florek) who represents a strange foreign gentleman named Louis Cyphre who wants Harry to find out if a moderately famous 1940′s crooner named Johnny Favorite is still alive. When asked why, Cyphre simply states that Johnny Favorite owes him collateral for “certain services”. Harry thinks it stinks like a houseguest who won’t leave, but hey, Cyphre’s $5,000 check is good and Harry takes the case.

Turns out that Johnny Favorite was drafted into the army and returned home from the war with his handsome face all blown to raw hamburger.  After plastic surgery that changed his features completely, he simply upped and disappeared from the hospital. But after Harry does some checking and finds that the doctor who did the plastic surgery on Johnny Favorite falsified the records…well, he starts taking a genuine interest in this case. Maybe he’s at last gotten hold of that one big case every private eye dreams of solving.

He would have been better off sticking to his divorce cases. Very shortly, Harry is up to his unwashed neck in a mystery that he rapidly realizes may cost more than his life to solve. The trail of the singer Johnny Favorite is a blood-soaked one that leads from a really strange church in Harlem to the voodoo haunted bayous of New Orleans.  It soon occurs to Harry as he continues on his quest that the solution to the mystery may be more frightening than the mystery itself. But by that time his curiosity and suspicions about the origins and true identity of the elusive Johnny Favorite has possessed him to the point that he now absolutely has to know the truth, despite the fact that Johnny Favorite himself appears to be gruesomely killing every and any one who shows the least curiosity about finding him…

ANGEL HEART has so much to recommend it; I hardly know where to begin. The performances are absolutely first rate. Mickey Rourke may have given the best performance of his career in this movie and I think his “I know who I am!” scene near the end is one of his finest. Robert DeNiro is not only sinister but also quite humorous in his role. Look closely at him in this movie because there are not only visual clues to his true identity but he also looks quite a lot like Martin Scorsese did at the time this movie was being filmed (which I didn’t notice myself until reading Roger Ebert’s review of this movie) and given what we find out about Louis Cyphre, it may give you a chuckle.

If you recall anything about ANGEL HEART it’s probably because of two scenes Lisa Bonet has in this movie. The first is a voodoo ritual scene and the second is a sex scene with her and Mickey Rourke. I’m not going to spoil either of these scenes for you in describing them save to say that I admire Lisa Bonet for taking such acting risks in scenes that could not have been easy to shoot but they do indeed contribute to the story and are not added for shock. And what makes it even more amazing that Lisa Bonet filmed this movie while on hiatus from “The Cosby Show” where she was playing one of the sweetly wholesome Huxtable kids. I can imagine the discussions that took place on the “Cosby Show” set after ANGEL HEART hit the screens.

There is a lot in ANGEL HEART that is not for the faint of heart or the squeamish. Most people say ‘horror movie’ and they think of the “Friday The 13th” or “Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” When I say ‘horror movie’ I’m talking about a movie like ANGEL HEART or “Night Of The Hunter” where the story and characters are presented with an intelligence and internal logic that before you know it, halfway through the movie you’re totally sucked in and forget you’re watching a movie.

The bottom line is this: if you have seen ANGEL HEART then you’re probably nodding your head in agreement while you’re reading this. If you haven’t seen ANGEL HEART then I recommend that you Netflix it at your earliest opportunity.  Get yourself the movie goodies of your choice. Put the DVD in your player and turn off the lights. And then prepare yourself for a really wonderful example of what I mean when I say ‘horror movie’.

113 min.
Rated R for graphic violence, adult language and graphic sex. The sex scene between Mickey Rourke and Lisa Bonet has become infamous for it’s startling imagery while the voodoo ritual scene may make those of more conservative religious beliefs and practices uncomfortable so don’t say I didn’t you. And folks, please put your kids to bed before you and your sweetheart watch this one, okay? Thank you and enjoy.