Movie & TV Review: Silver Linings Playbook + Hawaii Five-O

Silver Linings Playbook: more than just another Philadelphia Story.    The movie opens with a former Philadelphia high school teacher being released after eight months in a mental institution.   He was committed as part of a plea deal related to assaulting a man he discovered taking a shower with his wife.   Against the advice of the treating doctor, his mother, played by Jacki Weaver, arranged an early release.   We then meet his father, played by Robert De Niro, who is both a bookie and an avid Eagles fan.    We learn he is so avid a fan that he has been banned from seeing the Eagles live due to fighting.   Into this mix comes Tiffany, played by Jennifer Lawrence, a widow.  Her former husband was a policeman killed on the job (his death is only described and not shown).  And Tiffany, of course, has issues as well as a dream of participating in a dance contest.   The former teacher, Pat Solatano (Bradley Cooper), is determined to reconcile with his wife despite a restraining order.   From this synopsis you may wonder why you should see this film and wonder why it was nominated for best picture, best director (David O. Russell, who also wrote the screenplay), best actor (Cooper), best actresses (Lawrence), best supporting actor and best supporting actress.   I was asked if I knew of a film that had previously received nominations for all six categories and I do not.   If there was such a film with nominations for all 6, please email me and I will share the information.  Personally, I don’t think any of the nominees will win  but if there was an award for cast ensemble, it would win that award.    The four main characters play off each other superbly.  The scenes with Pat’s friend Danny (Chris Tucker) from the mental institution are both funny and have a real life feel to them.  Danny, like  Pat and Tiffany, particularly Tiffany, are people you care about.   In my last review I raved over Jessica Chastain and while I don’t retract my comments, Jennifer Lawrence is her equal.    Lawrence has played a diverse set of characters from Winter’s Bone, The Hunger Games and now this film while presently only 22 years old.    Pat is the lead character in the movie but it is Lawrence who made this film for me a success.   You can quibble with the story (Pat really should have been recommitted early on in the film but then there would be no movie) but this comedy has enough real life to make the storyline believable.  This film is a winning two hours.  

 After watching football yesterday, the TV stayed on and an episode of Hawaii Five-O appeared.  It was so terrible I ended up watching the entire episode.   If this “special showing” is indicative of the script quality, the series may not last past this year.   I watched the first year of the new Five-O and enjoyed it.  The second year I only saw some episodes and was less impressed.  I’ve hardly seen any of this year’s episodes and may not see any more.