Los juegos del destino

This is without a doubt THE movie that launched Jennifer into stardom. And deservedly so! For all those who love Jennifer Lawrence and for some unexplicable reason havent yet seen this gem there is only advice: stop reading this review and start watching!

But this movie is much much more than just a fun filled Jennifer flick, because David O Russel wrote and directed this crazy love classic, a movie about 2 people who are crazy and in love. The guy is played by Bradley Cooper and besides his other role in "American Hustle" I truly feel that this is his best performance ever.

All David O Russell pictures are about families in chaos. Utter chaos. BUT despite all the chaos and craziness in David O Russell's pictures there is always a true love at the heart to be found. That is what makes Russell's pictures so endearingly huggable, loveable and crazy positive. It is so touching and uplifting to see the craziest dysfunctional people fall in love and support eachother despite all their sorrows, fights and utter craziness.

Terrific supporting role by Robert de Niro! Splendid soundtrack. Great story. What more could one wish for? It is the craziest christmas feel good film I have ever seen. Gotta see this one!

Based on a novel by Matthew Quick, David O Russell has both written and directed this variation on the romantic comedy in which both main characters are deeply damaged and variably medicated.

Patrick used to be a teacher before he beat up a fellow teacher (he deserved it) and was diagnosed as bi-polar and confined to a mental institution for eight months. Tiffany used to be married to a cop who died in circumstances for which she feels blame and she has not been behaving as quietly and demurely as is expected of the newly bereaved. Both lead roles are played by attractive and talented young actors: Bradley Cooper ("The Hangover") and Jennifer Lawrence ("The Hunger Games") and, by the time I caught up with the movie on DVD, Lawrence had been awarded a deserved Academy Award for Best Actress for this quirky performance.

One of the distinctive features of this wonderful film is that most of the characters are obsessive to one extent and in one form or another, most notably Pat's father who is charmingly portrayed by veteran Robert de Niro. At turns funny and poignant, this is at heart a plea for us to be tolerant of others because - let's face it - we're all a little crazy.

People are saying that it's "offensive" and "too happy" to be real, and that surprises me. As someone who lives with mental illness (severe major depression with severe psychotic features), and was in psych ward for quite a while, I didn't find it offensive. I found it to be remarkably accurate in portraying some of my own struggles, with mind-dulling medications, unwanted outbursts, deep paranoia, odd tics, etc. that I have had for over ten years. As for the "overly happy" stuff? Too many movies and TV shows focus on being "dark" and "edgy", so I found it refreshing to see someone going through struggles being positive about it. I won't pretend to have had the most difficult life, but it hasn't been easy. I saw this movie a few months after I was released from psych ward (2016), and I can honestly say it gave me a bit of hope to find my own silver lining. The world needs more positivity.

I'm surprised by the negative reviews. I can't really see why people would dislike this movie. Even if it's not really my genre of movie I thought this one was very captivating. Bradley Cooper did a really good job playing his bipolar character, to me it was one of his best performances yet. The Oscar for best female actress went to Jennifer Lawrence, which surprised me a bit, even though she did a good job here. But to me Bradley Cooper is the star of Silver Linings Playbook. The rest of the cast was also excellent, all contributing to make this movie very enjoyable to watch, with some good giggles, but most of all an interesting story. I find stories about the "little bit crazy" people always fascinating to watch and in Silver Linings Playbook Cooper did a great job playing a bipolar. I wouldn't pay too much attention to the extremely negative reviews on here, those people rarely are satisfied by anything in life.

While the big headlines might be taken by the Oscar nominated lead actors (and also Oscar winner, regarding Jennifer Lawrence), the other good news is that De Niro finally had a role he could relish in again. And a role we as viewers would actually like to see him in too. There have been a few lesser roles he played over the past couple of years. And while he is never able to completely disappoint, you won't remember him for a movie called "Freelancers" and others in that vain.

But back to the leading couple. A couple that is really so far apart, that you know what that ultimately means for them. But Bradley Coopers character has a lot more going on than that. There are relationships that went wrong and it's really tough sometimes to watch him destroying himself or at least attempting to. A very good movie, with great dialog