Silver Linings Playbook is about a man and a woman who’ve both been through extremely traumatic events – separately. They meet by chance and coincidence through mutual acquaintances and continue to run into each other. It turns out their individual traumas unite them; He’s bipolar and returning to his parents house after eight months in a mental health facility and she’s recently returned to her parents house after her husband dies and she loses her job for lashing out as a sex addict. And that’s just how it starts…

Story: David O. Russell really dug deep for this one. And he pulled out a story that’s so local and so uniquely perfect in its neuroses. It’s a great motivator that romantic love doesn’t have to be perfect and that every couple isn’t the fairy prince and princess. The writers did a great job of making the dialogue sound like “the neighborhood.” You really got the sense that this was really happening in a suburb of Philadelphia.

Performances: Bradley Cooper has turned a corner. I’ve seen him play a rich, arrogant preppy in Wedding Crashers and of course, the popular guy in the Hangover, but, never a character who’s personality was the focus, not his looks. But, he nailed it. I found myself feeling so uncomfortable watching him during his episodes – I really felt like I was struggling to figure out what would calm him. His emotion was well played…

Then there was Jennifer Lawrence. She was nominated for Winter’s Bone and has continued to nail her roles. She’s a young actress who’s destined to end up with an Oscar. There was a scene in the film much like the courtroom scene in My Cousin Vinny. Marisa Tomei won her Oscar for that performance and this could be the one for Jennifer Lawrence. Her precision made you want to fist-bump.

Robert De Niro was also good as the Philadelphia sports obsessed father.

Visual: It looked like Philadelphia. The wardrobe was spot-on for Philly sports fans living their lives in their neighborhoods. Don’t look for any special effects or big light shows. This film doesn’t need it…

Rating: I decided to see this film right away because it started getting Oscar buzz even before it hit theaters. It’s supposed to be a romantic comedy, but, it’s more like the non-romantic comedy. It has the same kind of energy as The Town – It’ll get at least one nomination to give variety to the categories, but, only Jennifer Lawrence’s performance will get serious consideration. I’ll be surprised if Bradley Cooper get taken seriously even though he should be.

I’m giving it an A-. I’m not 100% about it for a best picture nomination, but, we’re nearing the end of the year and not much else is showing up. See this film on DVD if you want to see Bradley Cooper completely differently…