"Silver Linings Playbook" is adapted from the debut novel of the same name written by Matthew Quick. Crazed football fans are at the heart of "Silver Linings Playbook", but the book is also a moving story of a man with mental illness and the people around him. The film was adapted for the screen and directed by David O. Russell, who is known for his work with ensemble casting and handheld camera use that was so perfectly used in his last film "The Fighter" (2010). After receiving the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival the film quickly jumped to the top of my list of must see films for the year.

The performances in the film are some of the best for the year. Jennifer Lawrence is intense and with just the look in her eyes you feel that she is on the edge of doing something extreme at any moment. Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro work amazingly togetherhaving recently worked together on "Limitless" just last year. Both give a performance that makes it believable that they could be father and son. Neither have a filter, but the best fatherly advice ever comes at the end as Robert De Niro holds Bradley Cooper close and tells him to go after the woman he loves. Jacki Weaver is a rich character that keeps the family together.
The story manages to be comic, tragic, and often surprising. It delivers to fans of football and "Dancing with the Stars" at the same time as providing an emotional story with rich characters that you want to cheer for. The movie doesn't end with a medical cure, but instead it ends with healing from his family and love. Jennifer Lawrence should receive a nomination as well as one fore Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper. The screenplay is very deserving of a nomination and the picture as a whole could even receive the nomination. The fans at the Toronto International Film Festival got this one right as it is a 5 Quack film.
EXCELSIOR.
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