Silver Linings Playbook

Compatible Dysfunction
by Mark Dispenza

"Meeting cute" has been a staple of romantic comedies for decades...until now. Meet Pat (Bradley Cooper), a bipolar train wreck who was just released prematurely on his mother's recognizance after eight months in an institution, and Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), who deals with severe depression following the untimely death of her husband by sleeping with everyone she comes into contact with. Surely this is a match made in hell...except that it isn't.

They meet for the first time at a dinner given for them by Tiffany's sister (Julia Stiles), who is involved in a clandestine plot to set the two up and make Pat forget about his ex-wife, with whom he is obsessed. He had been arrested and institutionalized when he discovered his co-worker in the shower with her, and then beat the hapless man to within an inch of his life. His ex now has a restraining order against him, a fact to which he pays too little heed.

Pat and Tiffany's first conversation of mutual interest is about the meds they've been prescribed and how they reacted to the side effects. From then on things get rocky. As Pat becomes ever more obsessed with reuniting with his ex,Tiffany hatches a plan to get his attention by volunteering to carry a letter to her. In return Pat must become her partner in an unlikely attempt to win an upcoming ballroom dance competition. Just when you think this whole plot can't get any crazier, it does.

Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper

Cooper has proved his worth as a leading man and as a comic actor in films such as The Hangover, but in Silver Linings Playbook, he achieves a depth of character that shows once and for all that he's not just another pretty face. Lawrence (Winter's Bone, The Hunger Games) never fails to astound with her intensity and range, and this film is a case in point. She plays above her age as an older and slightly more mature, if not outright crazy, character and she nails it.

Robert De Niro returns to comedy in top form as Pat's father, who is just as insanely obsessed, but with the Philadelphia Eagles football team. Jacki Weaver continues to add to her resume of recent successes as Pat's mother, who is tirelessly dedicated to restoring order to her home by low-key attempts to tame the restless spirits of the two men she loves.

 

Jacki Weaver and Robert De Niro

David O. Russell, in his follow-up to The Fighter, scores again with another great story about ordinary people who achieve happiness and their own brand of success against the odds. It is filled with quirky characters who look a lot like the people we know, and who can be just as annoying and just as endearing. The script was adapted by Russell from the novel by Matthew Quick.

Not since Moonstruck, my all-time favorite of the genre, have I experienced a romantic comedy that's so much fun, yet so implausibly real at the same time. I highly recommend this film. It may be the most entertaining movie you will see this year.

 

 

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Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel

The “King of B’s” Gets the A-List Treatment
by Zac Sanford

After over sixty years and almost four hundred films, Roger Corman may be one of the most influential filmmakers to grace the silver screen. But it isn’t necessarily his own films that have given him the title. Nor is it the honorary Oscar bestowed upon him in 2009 by the Academy. Instead, it is the countless filmmakers and stars that he has had a hand in influencing over his long career.

In Alex Stapleton’s documentary, Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel, the filmmaker’s prolific career is remembered by those who he helped give their first big break in Tinsletown. Martin Scorsese waxes poetic about Boxcar Bertha from his state of the art screening room. Ron Howard recounts his experiences with Grand Theft Auto while taking a casual stroll. Peter Bogdanovich, who got his start in Corman’s exploitation films The Wild Angels and The Trip, claims the filmmaker was always ahead of the curve. But it is the intimate interview with Jack Nicholson, hired by Roger when no one else would cast him, that shows the most heart, even bringing the A-list actor to tears.

While many of these filmmakers and actors went on to bigger, and many would say better projects over the years, one must wonder why Roger never achieved the critical acclaim of his peers. The film touches on the subject of his passion for film, and one of the most ambitious projects of his career, The Intruder. Shot in 1962 and starring a young William Shatner, The Intruder dealt with the racial tensions of the South at the beginning of desegregation in the school system. But the film was a failure at the box office, and one of the only films Roger claims to have ever lost money on in his long-standing career. If it had been a success, who knows what trajectory Corman’s career would have taken, but he quickly settled back into his B-film shtick.


Through Roger’s career, the many shifts and changes of the industry are well documented. From the campy sci-fi films of the 50s, to the exploitation flicks of the 60s and 70s, followed by the summer blockbuster taking over the multiplex in the late 70s and early 80s, Roger found a way to succeed and persevere. When filmmakers like Antonioni and Fellini could no longer find American distributors, Corman’s New World Pictures stepped in to give them domestic distribution.

The quality of his films may have never given him the respect he deserves, but those who were influenced by his indie sensibilities have entertained us many times over. Those who currently work with Roger on his latest SyFy opus may end up becoming the next Scorsese or De Niro, so I plead to you Mr. Corman, never stop making films.