Movie Review: Silver Linings Playbook

         The mayor finally caught up with one of the more widely viewed films of 2012: The Silver Linings Playbook.  The lead actress, Jennifer Lawrence, received an oscar for her performance as the troubled young widow dealing with grief over her the death of her late husband.    She worked with a great cast, including Bradley Cooper and Robert DiNiro.
      Hollywood has made hay with "psychological thrillers", but has often had mixed results with the topic of mental illness.   Schizophrenia is an illness we've all heard about, but have difficulty understanding its many 'faces'.  Bipolar disorder is another illness we've heard about, more so recently.
     In this film, which begins in the institution, as Mr. Cooper is leaving after 8 months, we follow Mr. Cooper as he tries to cope with his illness, his family, his ex-wife(the adultress), and his neighbor, Ms. Lawrence.
     Set in a middle class neighborhood of Philadelphia, we follow the steps as he copes: Dad, a bit distant; Mom, a bit quiet; the brother, a bit sympathetic, and the neighbor girl, a bit hot, a bit lonely, a bit take charge.
     It all makes for good entertainment; but as my psychologist friend says, "there are no good outcomes with bipolar disorder".   So, Hollywood entertains us, implies that drugs and therapy work fine(the psychology professional has the requisite accent from Delhi), and we leave feeling good about the ending.   No hot sex scenes, no shoot 'em up cops, no chase scenes, and some good music mixing.
**** Mayor's 4 star rating= worth the price of admission