Man on Film: Silver Linings Playbook

In spite of its grating name--a trait it shares with some of David O. Russell's other films, namely I Heart Huckabee's and Spanking the Monkey--Silver Linings Playbook stands out as one of the year's best films. This should come as no surprise, of course, as Three Kings, the aforementioned I Heart Huckabee's, and The Fighter were all amongst the best films released in the years they came out as well, but the fact remains that no matter the subject, David O. Russell's touch is a deft and sure one.

If you want an idea as to how good this film is, let us just start with the statement that David O. Russell restores hope in the form of the romantic comedy. After all, that's what Silver Linings Playbook is: a romantic comedy. Somehow, though, it doesn't fall into the trap that nearly every other film of the genre does, a trait that speaks to its director, who seems to be able to work within a genre while being entirely his own man each time out. Just as he did with The Fighter and Three Kings, Russell sets up shop in a genre only to make that genre his own.

Where Silver Linings Playbook sets itself apart is in having its romantic leads need each other to make them right. Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper) had such emotional issues that he was institutionalized on orders of the court after beating the man with whom his wife was having an affair. Tiffany Maxwell (Jennifer Lawrence) took to feeding her widow's grief with an endless string of self-destructive sex. The two are wrecks, but in each other's company, even though it is on a platonic basis, they work and begin to piece their  shattered lives back together. Each character is broken but outspoken, giving Cooper and Lawrence roles full of opportunity. That Lawrence kills it is hardly a shock. She's clearly one of the most (if not the most) promising young actresses working. Hell, she's probably looking at her second Academy Award nomination at the age of 22. It's Cooper whose performance is revelatory. Whether of his own choosing or not, Cooper's talents have been wasted for nearly a decade (Midnight Meat Train notwithstanding, obviously). Here, the untapped potential fucking geysers without ceasing. Cooper is great, putting his name in the mix for a Best Actor nomination while making us remember why we--at least those of us who watched Alias when it was still good--had hope for him in the first place.

While Cooper and Lawrence are at the film's center, the supporting cast augments the leads well. Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker, and Shea Whigham are all great in small roles, and Robert DeNiro actually gets to play a role he hasn't played before, hearkening back to a time in which he was a top-notch actor. It's like the audience gets a taste of 1976. It is so nice to see DeNiro playing a role that isn't beneath him for once. We have to go back to Ronin or The Score to find a film in which DeNiro's talents aren't squandered. If you give him The Score, that's still over a decade in which he has floundered in substandard roles. In Silver Linings Playbook, he gets a chance to flash brilliance once again. It's fucking glorious.

Really, though, it's David O. Russell's vision, his ability to hand-craft screenplays with cherry roles for his actors, that make Silver Linings Playbook the fantastic film that it is. It is imbued with a working-class charm and a genuinely loving respect for the downtrodden. As always, Russell actually treats his subjects (at least most of them) with respect, rather than sneering down at them from a lofty perch. And when all is said and done, you'll be hard-pressed to think of a movie that's made you feel better this year.

Man on Film: The Five-Year Engagement

It has gotten to the point with the Team Apatow flicks where you tend to look forward to non-Judd Apatow directed films. He has assembled quite the cadre of talented comedic minds around him and certainly has comedic chops himself, but the proper Judd Apatow films tend to need a slightly more cutthroat hand in the editor's room.

Perhaps the most pleasant of the surprises of the the aforementioned lot of films was Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the first film from the team of writer/director Nicholas Stoller and occasional writing partner Jason Segel. It was with that--and the success of The Muppets--that one came into their newest project, The Five-Year Engagement.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall it wasn't.

The Five-Year Engagement is the closest to a straight-up romantic comedy as the Apatow crew has come. To be fair, it is not the typical documentation of a relationship in its courtship phase or the tired scenario in which the two main characters are clearly perfect for each other but they're stuck in a relationship that clearly doesn't befit their outstanding moral fiber. This starts with the proposal and then spends the entire rest of the film building a storm that they have to weather to stay together. In the case of The Five-Year Engagement, that storm is the unenviable fate of living in Michigan. To support his fiance, Tom Solomon (Segel) gives up his career as a chef in high-end San Francisco restaurants taking a job in a sandwich shop in Ann Arbor while Violet (Emily Blunt) pursues her career in academia. It operates in something that at least vaguely resembles the real world, unlike most romantic comedies. This is an important distinction, and The Five-Year Engagement is better than most rom-com fare, being far more adult than the ultimately simplistic and idealistic genre ever gets.

Unfortunately, The Five-Year Engagement does not live up to the standards that the previous teaming of the team of Segel and Stoller got. It is funny. It seems to have elements of a personal tale, presumably Stoller's. There is no point in the film in which you are not wanting to be there watching it, but it also doesn't step past the realm of simply being a pleasant film. It's got elements to like. Jacki Weaver and Alison Brie are both funny. Chris Pratt is outstanding. Segel and Blunt work well together for the most part. Pratt alone almost takes the film to that next level, but it doesn't quite get there.

In the end, The Five-Year Engagement is an all right time. Certainly something that both halves of a relationship can enjoy. It just isn't quite as good as Stoller and Segel's other output.