| Silver Linings Playbook | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | David O. Russell |
| Screenplay by | David O. Russell |
| Based on | The Silver Linings Playbook byMatthew Quick |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Masanobu Takayanagi |
| Edited by | |
| Music by | Danny Elfman |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | The Weinstein Company |
Release dates |
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Running time | 122 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $21 million[2] |
| Box office | $236.4 million[2] |
Silver Linings Playbook is a 2012 Americanromanticcomedy-drama film written and directed byDavid O. Russell. The film is based onMatthew Quick's 2008 novelThe Silver Linings Playbook. It starsBradley Cooper andJennifer Lawrence, withRobert De Niro,Jacki Weaver,Anupam Kher, andChris Tucker in supporting roles.
The film is set inLansdowne, Pennsylvania. Cooper plays Patrizio "Pat" Solitano Jr., a man withbipolar disorder who is released from apsychiatric hospital and moves in with his parents (De Niro and Weaver). Pat is determined to restore the love of his estranged wife. He meets a young widow, Tiffany Maxwell (Lawrence), who offers to help him if he enters a dance competition with her. The two become closer as they train, and Pat, his father, and Tiffany examine their relationships with each other as they cope with their situations.
Silver Linings Playbook premiered at the2012 Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2012, and was released in the United States byThe Weinstein Company on November 16, 2012.[3] The film opened to critical acclaim, with praise for Russell's direction and screenplay, and the performances of Cooper and Lawrence. It grossed $236.4 million worldwide. A recipient ofseveral accolades, it received eight nominations at the85th Academy Awards, includingBest Picture,Best Director,Best Adapted Screenplay,Best Actor,Best Supporting Actor andSupporting Actress and with Lawrence winning theAcademy Award for Best Actress.
After eight months' treatment in a mental health facility forbipolar disorder, Patrizio "Pat" Solitano Jr. is released into the care of his parents, Patrizio Sr. and Dolores, at his childhood home inUpper Darby Township, Pennsylvania. His primary focus is to reconcile with his ex-wife, Nikki. She has moved away and obtained a restraining order against him after he found her in the shower with another man and badly beat him.
Pat'stherapist, Cliff Patel, tries to convince him to keep taking hismedication because a repeat of his violent outbursts might send him back to the clinic. Pat tells him that he has a new outlook on life: He attempts to see the good, orsilver lining, in all that he experiences.[4] Meanwhile, Pat experiences a series ofanxiety attacks.
Pat attends dinner at his best friend Ronnie's house, where Ronnie's sister-in-law, Tiffany Maxwell, a widow with an unnamed disorder, is also a guest. They connect,[5] talking about different psychiatric medications they have taken to manage theirmental illnesses. She tries to offer himcasual sex, but Pat is focused on getting Nikki back. Trying to get closer to him, Tiffany offers to deliver a letter to Nikki if, in return, he partners with her in an upcoming dance competition. Convinced that helping Tiffany will show Nikki he has changed and has developed sensitivity to others, Pat agrees. Pat and Tiffany start practicing over the following weeks.
Hoping to open a restaurant, Patrizio Sr. has resorted toillegal bookmaking. Having bet most of his money on aPhiladelphia Eagles game, Patrizio asks Pat to attend for good luck, irrationally believing Pat's attention to the game affects its outcome. Pat points out this isOCD ideation but appeases his father. Pat asks Tiffany for time off from practice to attend the game. She gives him a typed reply from Nikki, which cautiously hints they may be able to reconcile. Before entering the stadium, Pat and his brother Jake get into a fight with racist fans and are arrested. The Eagles lose the game, and Patrizio is furious.
When Patrizio claims that the Eagles lost because of Tiffany's newfound involvement in Pat's life, she refutes his allegations by pointing out that Philadelphia sports teams had done better whenever she and Pat were together. Convinced, Patrizio makes aparlay with his friend Randy: If the Eagles win their week 16 game against theDallas Cowboys and Tiffany and Pat score five out of ten in their dance competition, he will win back double the money he lost on the first bet.
Pat is reluctant, but Tiffany, Dolores, and Patrizio conspire to persuade him to dance in the competition, telling him Nikki will be there. Noticing that the letter from Nikki includes the phrase "If it's me reading the signs...", frequently used by Tiffany, he realizes that Tiffany fabricated the letter. Tiffany, Pat, and their friends and family arrive at the competition on the night of the football game. Tiffany despairs when she sees Nikki in the audience, invited by Ronnie and his wife Veronica. They want Nikki to lift her restraining order on Pat, giving them the chance to reconcile. Tiffany starts to drink heavily at the bar.
Pat finds Tiffany moments before their turn and drags her onto the dance floor. They begin their routine as the Eagles defeat the Cowboys. After their set, Tiffany and Pat receive an average score of exactly 5.0 points amid cheers from friends and family and confused looks from the crowd. Pat approaches Nikki and whispers into her ear. Seeing this, Tiffany runs off. Pat Sr. tells his son that unlike Nikki, Tiffany really loves him, and he should not let her go, as it would haunt him for the rest of his life. Pat catches Tiffany and hands her a letter in which he admits to knowing she forged the letter earlier. He confesses that he loved her from the moment they became acquainted, but that it took him a long time to realize and accept it. They share a kiss. Patrizio opens a restaurant with the money he has won, and Pat and Tiffany begin a relationship, no longer wearing their wedding rings.
Renee Witt, an executive atThe Weinstein Company, convincedHarvey Weinstein tooption the book byMatthew Quick on which the film is based,[14] doing so before it was published.[15]Sydney Pollack began developing forDavid O. Russell to direct.[14] Pollack told Russell that thefilm adaptation would be tricky because of the story's mixture of troubling emotion, humor, and romance. Russell estimates that he rewrote the script[16] twenty times over five years. Russell was drawn to the story because of the family relationships and the connection he felt to his own son, who has bipolar disorder andOCD.[17][18]
The film was shot in 33 days. A darker, more extreme version of the dance sequence was filmed, and scenes with De Niro's character were shot in multiple versions, with the character harsher or warmer, as Russell worked with editorJay Cassidy to set the balance they wanted.[17]
The locations areUpper Darby,Ridley Park andLansdowne communities just outsidePhiladelphia, Pennsylvania. Although not mentioned by name in the film, Ridley Park is credited at the end, and a police officer can be seen wearing the initials "RPPD" on his collar.[19]
The film takes place during the second half of the2008 NFL football season,[20] which saw the Philadelphia Eagles advance to theNFC Championship Game. Several games are mentioned, including the Eagles' victories overSeattle andSan Francisco, their losses to two of theirNFC East rivalsWashington Redskins[21] and theNew York Giants (which was the game Pat was attending when the fight broke out), and their victory overDallas in the regular season's final game.
Russell initially intended to make the film withVince Vaughn andZooey Deschanel, but instead went on to makeThe Fighter.[17][18][22]Mark Wahlberg was set to work with Russell for the fourth time, but had to drop out after delays in production created a scheduling conflict.[23]
Russell had originally planned to work with Bradley Cooper on an adaptation ofPride and Prejudice and Zombies, having been impressed with Cooper's performance inWedding Crashers (2005), citing his "good bad-guy energy" and unpredictability as justification for casting.[24] Cooper told Russell that "he had been heavier and angrier and more fearful" at the time of that performance and had drawn on those feelings for it. Russell was excited that Cooper would bring those qualities to Pat Solitano.[17][18]
Anne Hathaway was cast as Tiffany Maxwell, but due to scheduling conflicts withThe Dark Knight Rises and creative differences with Russell, she dropped out.[6][25][26] Other actresses who were considered for the part includedElizabeth Banks,Kirsten Dunst,Angelina Jolie,Blake Lively,Rooney Mara,Rachel McAdams,Andrea Riseborough andOlivia Wilde.[18][22][23][27][28]
Initially, Russell did not believe that Jennifer Lawrence's age was suitable for the role.[18][22] He thought that Lawrence (21 at the time of filming) was too young to play opposite Cooper (37), but her audition changed his mind, admitting that the "expressiveness in her eyes and in her face" was "ageless".[15][29] Russell compares Lawrence to the character Tiffany, describing her as confident but one of the least neurotic people he knows, with the confidence and glimpses of vulnerability needed to play Tiffany.[15] Tiffany went through several iterations. She was initially meant to begoth. Lawrence dyed her hair black and did test shoots in heavy goth makeup, but Weinstein disapproved. The final version of her character remained messed-up yet confident, with small goth touches such as the dark hair and a cross.[15] Specifically for the role, Lawrence was asked by Russell to put on weight[30] and to speak in a lower register.[15]
According toEntertainment Weekly, Lawrence said she did not have a handle on Tiffany at first, which was what excited her about the role. "She was just a character I one-hundred percent did not understand at all... She's like, 'I'm messed up, I'm not like everybody else, I've got issues. Take it or leave it because I like myself.'"[31]
Lawrence and Cooper had no previous dance experience. In less than a month,Mandy Moore, a choreographer forSo You Think You Can Dance, taught them the dance sequences. Moore describes Cooper as having "some real natural dancing ability".[32][33] Lawrence said of the climactic ballroom dance, "None of that was improvised, absolutely not. I'm a terrible dancer, so I would never have been able to do any of that. When it finally came together, that scene really was just as fun as it feels."[31]
The musical score was composed byDanny Elfman.Silver Linings Playbook: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the film released bySony Music Entertainment on November 16, 2012 featuring songs heard in the film.[34] Elfman's score for the film was also released simultaneously with the song album.[35]
Silver Linings Playbook premiered at the2012 Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2012,[36] where it won the People's Choice Award.[37] It opened at the 2012Mumbai Film Festival on October 18, 2012,[38][39] and received a limited release in the United States on November 16, 2012, opening wider later that week.[36]
The Weinstein Company initially planned an unusually wide release forSilver Linings Playbook, going nationwide on an estimated 2,000 screens. They were encouraged by positive reviews and hoping to capitalize on Thanksgiving to do more business. Instead, they took a more slow-burn approach, opening in fewer theaters, expanding gradually, in a strategy to build up word-of-mouth support.[40][41][42] Continuing the slow release, the film expanded to 700 theaters on December 25.[43]
Silver Linings Playbook was released onDVD andBlu-ray on April 30, 2013, byAnchor Bay Entertainment.[44]
Silver Linings Playbook earned $443,003 in its opening weekend from 16 locations, facing strong competition from films includingSkyfall andLincoln.[45] Expanding to 367 locations in its second week, the film moved to ninth place with $4.4 million.[46] By December 30, it was showing at 745 theaters and had earned $27.3 million.[47] On January 18, 2013, it earned $12.7 million when it expanded to 2,523 theaters, which boosted its total to $56.7 million.[48] In its second weekend of playing in over 2500 theaters, its sales declined by 12.2%. Gitesh Pandya stated that it was well on its way to reaching the $100 million mark and could go much higher if it remained durable over the weeks.[49]
Ray Subers[who?] forecast that the film would earn $100 million, predicting that the film would start slow but keep going through December and gain a wide audience, bringing in fans of Cooper and Lawrence from their work on big franchise films,The Hangover andThe Hunger Games, respectively.[50] The film surpassed the $100 million mark in North America on February 19, 2013.[51]
Silver Linings Playbook premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and was critically acclaimed. The film has an approval rating of 92% onRotten Tomatoes based on 260 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Silver Linings Playbook walks a tricky thematic tightrope, but David O. Russell's sensitive direction and sharp work from a talented cast gives it true balance."[52] OnMetacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 reviews from mainstream critics, the film holds an average score of 81, based on reviews from 45 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[53] Audiences surveyed byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[54]
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Cooper and Lawrence were lauded for their performances.[55][56][57][58][59][60] Kevin Jagernauth ofThe Playlist praised the film as "an enormously entertaining, crowd-pleasing winner" and noted that the performances from the two leads were "carefully developed, and perfectly pitched", deserving of awards.[61] David Rooney ofThe Hollywood Reporter said that "the chemistry between Cooper and Lawrence makes them a delight to watch" and that their performances anchor the ensemble cast who also give great performances even in small roles. Rooney also complimented the "invigorating messiness" and "nervous energy" of the choreography.[62]Richard Corliss ofTime magazine also applauded the performances of the leads, particularly Lawrence, stating that her performance is "the reason to stay" to watch the whole film, and praising her maturity.[63]
Russell's direction and screenplay were also widely acclaimed, with Justin Chang ofVariety writing: "Never one to shy away from unlikely sources of comedy, David O. Russell tackles mental illness, marital failure and the curative powers of football and dance with bracingly sharp and satisfying results."[64] Eric Kohn ofIndiewire gave the film an "A−" grade, praising Russell's direction and the performances of Cooper and Lawrence, stating that "both as solo screenwriter and director, Russell assembles a small, bubbly cast for an unexpectedly charming romcom that frequently dances — at one point, quite literally — between cynicism and bittersweetness with largely winning results."[65] Ann Hornaday ofThe Washington Post remarked on Russell's skill, noting how "in any other hands, the adaptation of Matthew Quick's novel would be the stuff of banal rom-com fluff or, perhaps worse, self-consciously quirky indie cliches."[66]
Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 out of four stars, saying that the film was "so good, it could almost be a terrific old classic" and described Russell's screenplay as "ingenious" for the way the major concerns of both the father and son pivot on the final bet.[67]Kenneth Turan called the film "a complete success" and the actors' performances "superb," including Chris Tucker in an "irresistible" supporting turn.[68]Steven Rea ofThe Philadelphia Inquirer called the film "a transcendent endeavor, from its exhilaratingly smart screenplay... to the unexpected and moving turns of its two leads."[69]Ricardo Baca ofThe Denver Post praised how the film managed to maintain "the awkward laughs, giddy anxiousness and warm butterflies from the trailer" for its entire length.[70]Peter Travers ofRolling Stone called it "one of the year's best films. It's crazy good."[71]
Negative reviews of the film came fromThe New Yorker, whose critic David Denby called it "a miscalculation from beginning to end" and found Cooper's character "tiresome",[72] whileRichard Brody foundLinings perhaps to "be the year's most artificial film" and "the plot [...] utterly ridiculous."[73] In a rare step outside the magazine's typical practices, Brody revisited the film and wrote a supplementary review, once again condemning it as having "no characters but sets of switches, each of which has a binary set of options and all of which have to line up for things to come out right."[74] Brody wrote, "I'm finding it hard not to make fun of the film's highly constructed and narrow-bore array of givens, of plot points and their resolutions."[74] Both critics found Lawrence's Oscar-winning performance "unconvincing".[72][73] Denby wrote, "we don't believe [Tiffany] for a second when she says that, in her grief, she 'had sex with everyone in my office'. Lawrence is tough and proud, and always plays strong, and the remark doesn't track with anything we see onscreen."[72] Brody finds Lawrence "a poised and graceful actress" who "has none of the wildness that her character needs—and that lack of wildness is part of the reason for the film's success."[74]
Robbie Collin ofThe Daily Telegraph wrote that there's a "tiring fruitlessness to the mayhem", describing the lead character as a "rambling headcase", though noting Lawrence as the film's "only 'silver lining'".[75]The Globe and Mail's chief film critic, Liam Lacey, gave 3 out of four stars, but wrote "you can easily seeSilver Linings Playbook as a better-acted version of any number ofSundance-style films about quirky outsiders who find a common bond."[76]
TheNFL was critical of the gambling in the film and declined to broadcast an interview with Bradley Cooper and Chris Tucker duringThanksgiving.[77]
In 2025, it was one of the films voted for the "Readers' Choice" edition ofThe New York Times' list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century," finishing at number 199.[78]
At the85th Academy Awards,Silver Linings Playbook received eight nominations, includingBest Picture,Best Director for Russell,Best Actor for Cooper,Best Actress for Lawrence,Best Supporting Actor for De Niro andBest Supporting Actress for Weaver,Best Adapted Screenplay andBest Film Editing, with Lawrence winning the film's onlyAcademy Award, becoming the second-youngest winner in theBest Actress category, behind onlyMarlee Matlin inChildren of a Lesser God (1986). It became the first film sinceReds (1981) to be Oscar-nominated forthe four acting categories and the first sinceMillion Dollar Baby (2004) to be nominated for theBig Five Oscars,[79] In 2021,Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) andWriters Guild of America, East (WGAE) included its screenplay in WGA's "101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century (*so far)".[80][81]
It was announced on October 5, 2021 that the movie will be developed into a stage musical for Broadway.[84]
I learned a lot from him because he constantly talks throughout your take. He's talking at you while you're acting or trying to act. It's very jarring, but it got me out of my own head.
The Weinstein Company was originally planning to go nationwide
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