Side Effects

Side Effects - Dir. Steven Soderbergh (2013)

Cinephiles wept tears when Steven Soderbergh announced his retirement from directing films. Though HBO recently aired his long-awaited Liberace biopic, Behind the Candelabra, his final theatrical release is Side Effects, written by Scott Z. Burns, the screenwriter of two other Soderbergh pictures, The Informant and Contagion. Describing Side Effects as Soderbergh’s attempt at a Hitchcock thriller already gives away too much about the twist and turns in the narrative. So, this review will contain major spoilers.

Emily Taylor (Rooney Mara) is a young professional whose husband, Martin (Channing Tatum), has just been released from prison after serving time for insider trading. Martin promises he will get their lives back on track, but Emily, who has a history of depression, struggles with her everyday life. After a suicide attempt, Emily is sent to Dr. Jonathan Banks (Jude Law) for psychiatric care. When none of the medication he prescribes for her seems to work, Banks consults with Emily’s former doctor, Victoria Siebert (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who recommends a new wonder drug called Ablixa. Emily’s state of mind vastly improves, except for an unexpected side effect that causes her to sleepwalk. During one bout of somnambulism, Emily stabs her husband to death. The subsequent trial shifts from Emily to Banks and whether or not he willfully ignored symptoms or engaged in unprofessional conduct with a patient.

At first, Side Effects feels like a companion piece to the disease disaster Contagion, an exposé on the pharmaceutical industry. The Taylors exist in a world of affluence where every problem from lethargy to a stressful job interview can be solved with the latest wonder drug. The first act is a domestic drama as we follow the struggles of Emily as she faces insurmountable mental issues. She places her trust into a doctor who is preoccupied with lucrative drug trials and increasing his standing in the medical community. This is a complete 180 turn for Rooney Mara who gained notices as the goth hacker in David Fincher's remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Mara gives a sullen performance as the waifish Emily, but turns your sympathies on their ear by the second act as a calculating manipulator. When Channing Tatum pulls a Janet Leigh, Side Effects shifts focus to Jude Law and becomes a modern day noir with Banks as the wronged man desperate to prove his crackpot theories. Yes, the third act unfolds in the manner of a routine Law & Order episode, complete with the requisite "Guess what? I was wearing a wire the whole time" scene. However, Soderbergh's impeccable craftsmanship and the A-list ensemble turn the rote material into a taut spellbinder.

Much like Guy Pearce, Jude Law has the good looks to be leading man, yet has found a niche in recent years playing these supporting roles, whether it is Hugo, Anna Karenina or Sherlock's sidekick Dr. Watson. Catherine Zeta-Jones is also good as the ice queen hidden behind horn-rimmed glasses and her hair tied in a constricting bun.

Soderbergh does triple duty on Side Effects, serving as his own cinematographer and editor under the pseudonyms Peter Andrews and Mary Ann Bernard. Soderbergh eschewed the usual trappings of movies set in New York by avoiding establishing shots of the city or its landmarks. Instead, he favors tightly constructed medium shots and close-ups to turn the expansive metropolis into a crushing and claustrophobic environment where meager lives are swallowed whole.

You can always expect the unexpected from Steven Soderbergh. He's the rare filmmaker that brings a unique voice to tried and true genres, such as the Hollywood blockbuster (Ocean's Eleven), the action movie (Haywire) and even male strippers. Soderbergh puts his own signature stamp on Side Effects, making it one of the first great films of 2013.

Rating: *** (*****)

Mama

Mama - Dir. Andres Muschietti (2012)

2011 was the breakout year for Jessica Chastain. She earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in "The Help" and won critical acclaim for her performances in Tree of Life and Take Shelter. That doesn't include strong turns in Wilde Salome, Coriolanus, The Debt, and Texas Killing Fields, which were all released the same calendar year. While her work hasn't been as prolific since then, Chastain did start off 2013 with a bang as the star of the number one and number two box office toppers during the weekend of January 18. I'm speaking of Zero Dark Thirty and Mama, both of which remained in the top five for the following two weeks.

Chastain replaced her fiery red hair for a short black hairdo ala Joan Jett for this creepy horror flick. Mama opens in 2008 when white collar worker Jeffrey Desange (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) loses a fortune and his marbles. Desange shoots his business partners and murders his wife before making off his with daughters, Lilly (Isabelle Nelisse) and Victoria (Megan Charpentier). Desange loses control of his speeding car on a snowy road and crashes into the woods. He seeks sanctuary inside an abandoned cabin, which is never a good idea. Before the desperate Desange can do the unthinkable, he is killed by a misshapen spirit the girls eventually refer to as 'Mama.'

Five years later, Lilly and Victoria are found by a search party. Filthy and feral, the girls are reunited with their uncle Lucas (also Coster-Waldau) and his new girlfriend, Annabel Moore (Chastain). With guidance from their psychiatrist Dr. Dreyfuss (Daniel Kash), Lucas and Annabel move from their cramped apartment to a quiet home in the suburbs to help acclimate the little ones back into society. However, Annabel is no happy homemaker. She's plays bass in a rock band and bristles at the idea of children. The older girl, Victoria, returns to civility more easily whereas the younger Lilly remains animalistic. She sleeps under the bed, screams at people who come near her, and eats bugs. Throughout the ordeal, Dr. Dreyfuss believes the 'Mama' the girls refer to was an imaginary being they created as an idealized protector.

Mama was directed by Andrés Muschietti, who co-wrote the screenplay with his sister Barbara and Neil Cross, whose credits include the BBC series Luther and Doctor Who. Muschietti initially shot Mama as a short film back in 2008 to drum up interest for the feature-length script. It worked as Muschietti impressed Guillermo Del Toro, who quickly signed on as executive producer. Mama has a lot in common with The Orphanage and Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, two other horror projects Del Toro helped shepherd. This is a dark and gothic ghost story that relies on old school scares rather than blood and guts. In true haunted house fashion, the scares come from knowing that there is something under the bed or in the closet as the characters cautiously (and foolishly) take a peek.

Mama herself is a mix of practical and CG effects with the tangled, black hair familiar to fans of Asian horror. Muschietti follows the Jaws formula of keeping Mama relatively hidden and only shown in short bursts until the final act.

Chastain turns in a solid performance, a far cry from her Oscar nominated turn as the grim CIA agent in Zero Dark Thirty. Game of Thrones fans will enjoy seeing Jamie Lannister in the dual role of Jeffrey and Lucas. The best performances in Mama belong to the young actresses who are utterly convincing as the lost sisters.

Mama isn't as balls-out insane as Cabin in the Woods, but it is one of the better horror flicks produced in recent years. It is well directed with several stylish flourishes by Muschietti that help to build a spooky atmosphere.

Rating: *** (*****)

Frankie Go Boom

Frankie Go Boom - Dir. Jordan Roberts (2012)

Poor Frank Bartlett (Charlie Hunnam) has been tormented all his life by his older brother Bruce (Chris O'Dowd), who sees himself as a director on the rise. The straw that broke the camel's back took place during Frank's marriage in which his fiancée admitted to being unfaithful and Frank responded by vomiting on her. As if that wasn't humiliating enough, Bruce videotaped the whole affair and uploaded it to YouTube turning Frank into a viral sensation.

Now, Frank lives alone in Death Valley, but gets drawn back when his mom (Nora Dunn) guilt trips him into returning when Bruce successfully finishes rehab. Almost immediately, Frank literally bumps into Lassie (Lizzy Caplan), who has tied one on after catching her boyfriend in flagrante delicto with their pool boy. Their night together gets off to a rocky start when Frank has problems getting it up. Of course, Bruce is there to record the whole thing and marketing it as his latest cinematic masterpiece. Frank is livid and the situation worsens when the brothers learn Lassie is the daughter of Bruce's rehab buddy, Jack (Chris Noth), a washed-up actor known for his violent temper. Frank and Bruce bounce around Los Angeles in their bumbling attempts to destroy the footage.

Frankie Go Boom portrays the exasperating life of a sane man in an insane world populated by completely unsympathetic characters. Yet, Frank is such a pushover that it's hard to root for him. Nearly everyone around him deserves a punch in the face from his irritating brother to his obnoxious mother, both of whom share a creepy and borderline incestuous relationship. Also, the film never explains why Frank still brings his cell phone to the desert if he wants to isolate himself from his poisonous family.

If there is any heart to be found in the movie, it is from the blossoming romance between Frank and Lassie. Their relationship begins with a twist on the meet cute when a drunken Lassie crashes into Frank while wearing a coat over her edible lingerie. But, their love story is sidelined by writer/director Jordan Roberts' preoccupation with crafting outrageous situations. Chris Noth runs on his treadmill in a thong and asks the Bartlett boys to smack his ass and Frank gives CPR to a pig after it's launched into a grimy swimming pool. The results of this shock and awe approach to comedy leads to a series of tortuously strained gags and a collection of supporting characters that are nothing more than caricatures. The only interesting one of the bunch is Ron Perlman as a transsexual ex-con now known as Phyllis. That is more due to Perlman's performance than anything written on the page.

Just like Perlman, Lizzy Caplan and Chris O'Dowd are talented performers that are simply wasted in their one-note roles. Meanwhile, Charlie Hunnam doesn't make much of an impression in the lead. Perhaps, comedy isn't his strong suit.

Frankie Go Boom is a terribly unfunny farce. At best, it's a mild curiosity for Sons of Anarchy fans hoping to see Hunnam and Perlman in wildly different roles.

Rating: * (*****)

Pain & Gain

Pain & Gain - Dir. Michael Bay (2013)

I'm not sure what's more unbelievable about Pain & Gain, the true life story upon which it was based or the fact that this was Michael Bay's idea of a low-budget indie movie.

Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) has a great body, but not a lot of brains to go with his delusional view of the American dream or his staunch sense of entitlement. After doing time for a Ponzi scheme, Lugo goes to work as a personal trainer at the Sun Gym in Miami. Formerly a rundown spot for old folks, Lugo turns it into a haven for the built and beautiful. However, he's not satisfied and spots a big, fat payday in his obnoxious client Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub). Kershaw openly brags about his wealth, his offshore accounts, and the Schlotzsky's Deli he owns at the airport. Lugo hits on the idea to kidnap Kershaw and hold him hostage until he signs over all his assets. This ersatz mastermind recruits his best pal Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie), a fellow bodybuilder who has been rendered impotent by steroid abuse, and Paul Doyle (Dwayne Johnson), an ex-con who has traded his coke habit for Jesus. After several bumbling attempts, the muscle-bound trio snatches Kershaw and tortures him for nearly a month inside a warehouse full of sex toys. Lugo and his crew are able to enjoy their ill-gotten gains primarily because Kershaw is such a prick that the police have a hard time believing or sympathizing with him. When Doorbal and Doyle blow their newfound wealth on penile injections and cocaine, Lugo is forced to abduct a new mark with disastrous consequences.

Pain & Gain is unmistakably a Michael Bay film even without the widescreen mayhem and deafening explosions. His garish aesthetics are simpatico with the bizarre, true-life events adapted for the screen by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (Captain America, Chronicles of Narnia). For once, it actually makes sense for Bay to populate the backgrounds with buxom babes since the story involves strippers galore. The saturated orange and teal color palette accentuates the sun soaked paradise of Miami. The camera whips along at a frenzied pace with super slow motion employed to great effect during a SWAT team raid. When Doyle barbecues a pair of dismembered hands to destroy fingerprints, an intertitle is stamped onto the screen to remind you that this is still based on fact. The question remains: is Bay just doing what comes natural or has he developed a sense of awareness that allows him to lampoon his own style?

As Bay flirts with the notion of self-parody, he walks a thin line between glorifying and condemning the actions of his characters. There's no doubt that these men aren't the least bit sympathetic, not to mention aggressively stupid. The fact that their brutality was played for laughs has upset the real victims of the Sun Gym Gang. The dark humor eschews closely to the works of Guy Ritchie or the Crank films. Stomachs may turn when chainsaws are broken out to chop up corpses or when a severed toe comes into play.

The cast really sinks their teeth into their respective roles with Mark Wahlberg excelling as the archetypal meathead. His Daniel Lugo is definitely cut from the same cloth as Dirk Diggler with a more sinister side. Tony Shalhoub brings Victor Kershaw to odious life while Rebel Wilson, Michael Rispoli, and Peter Stormare fill out the colorful supporting cast. Ken Jeong is thankfully utilized in small doses as a motivational speaker ("Be a do'er, not a don't'er") that inspires Lugo.  Ed Harris portrays the straight man as a retired cop turned private investigator. He essentially takes on the Tommy Lee Jones role in No Country for Old Men as the one good man in an insane world. The best performance in Pain & Gain belongs to Dwayne Johnson, who bulked up to bigger proportions than he ever had in his WWE career. There's a naiveté initially displayed by Johnson that makes Doyle a gentle giant, then shows deft comedic timing when he reverts into a desperate coke head.

Pain & Gain is easily Michael Bay's best picture, which may be a backhanded compliment when his filmography includes Bad Boys 2 and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Rating: *** (*****)

Oblivion

Oblivion - Dir. Joseph Kosinski (2013)

The year is 2077 and Earth has been ravaged by a war with an alien race known as the Scavengers. The invaders struck the first blow by destroying the moon and devastating the planet's climate. The humans deployed nuclear weapons to defeat the Scavs, but at the cost of rendering Earth nearly inhospitable. The remnants of humanity are migrating to the Saturn moon of Titan. This is all explained with painstaking detail in the opening narration of Oblivion.

Tom Cruise stars as the live-action version of Wall-E, Jack Harper, not to be confused with Jack Reacher. Harper and his partner/lover Vika (Andrea Riseborough) have stayed behind to be the "mop-up crew." They are tasked with repairing robotic drones that hunt down Scav stragglers and protect massive machines converting Earth's seawater into energy for the new colony. Both Harper and Vika have had their memories wiped as a security measure lest they be captured by the Scavs. Yet, Harper is plagued by dreams of a life before with a teeming New York City and a beautiful woman (Olga Kurylenko). Unlike his dutiful partner, Harper waxes nostalgic about old Earth and ventures off his usual patrol route. He's found a tranquil getaway within a hidden valley where he shoots hoops and listens to vinyl records.

During another routine repair, Harper finds a crashed ship that is decades old and carrying several human passengers in stasis. One of them happens to be Julia, the woman from his dreams. When the drones open fire on them, Harper embarks on a quest to discover the truth about the war and his own identity.

Oblivion is the second feature film from Joseph Kosinski, who previously directed Tron: Legacy. Kosinski has proven to be capable of creating stylish sci-fi worlds though he has a weaker handling on story. Oblivion transplants many of those same new age ideas with a stronger screenplay by Kosinski, William Monahan, Karl Gajdusek, and Michael Arndt. However, it is no less derivative. The story is full of Twilight Zone-style twists while paying homage to a laundry list of classic sci-fi films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Silent Running, The Omega Man, along with recent releases like Moon. Harper and Vika operate in the ruined remains of the Big Apple with the Statue of Liberty sticking out of the ground ala Planet of the Apes. Morgan Freeman appears in an outfit he apparently borrowed from Laurence Fishburne's Matrix wardrobe. And much like Morpheus, Freeman seeks to open Harper's eyes to the truth. Even the superb score by French electronic band M83 is reminiscent of Daft Punk's soundtrack for Tron: Legacy.

The movie progresses at a casual pace after a bloated opening overloaded with exposition. This allows the viewer to feast in the sumptuous visuals crafted by Kosinski, cinematographer Claudio Miranda, and their special effects team. Oblivion was filmed in Iceland and they've captured the natural beauty of the pristine landscapes. Though it isn't a rip-roaring action flick, Oblivion does feature a few well-executed set pieces, one of which sees Cruise flying his sleek airship through a canyon with drones hot on his tail.

It's no coincidence that Cruise once again takes on the role of a skilled pilot. His Jack Harper isn't too different from the characters he's portrayed in Top Gun, Minority Report, or Mission: Impossible. He's the loyal trooper who eventually bucks authority when it conflicts with his beliefs. Cruise is strong, but doesn't make much of an impression. Morgan Freeman would have to have a really bad day to turn in a weak performance while Game of Thrones' Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Zoe Bell are underutilized as his followers. Acting accolades should definitely go to Andrea Riseborough who portrays Vika with a heartbreaking vulnerability along with a stern iciness. She's the best thing in an otherwise lackluster picture, just as she was in Madonna's half-baked W.E. Melissa Leo has some fun as Sally, Harper and Vika's command officer, who only appears as a face on a screen. There's something obviously sinister about Sally's sunny, down-home disposition.

Oblivion is certainly worth catching on the big screen (or at least on Blu-ray) for the eye candy and the aural feast of M83's score. However, the story is far too familiar to be wholly satisfying.

Rating: ** (*****)

Iron Man 3

Iron Man 3 - Dir. Shane Black (2013)

People always say, "Third time's the charm." However, that rule doesn't always apply to comic book movies. If a franchise is lucky enough to make it to a third outing, the filmmakers have forgotten what made the series successful in the first place. Superman 3, Spider-Man 3, and X-Men: The Last Stand are glaring examples while Batman Forever was the start of Batman's descent into campy nipple-dom. Christopher Nolan broke from the trend with The Dark Knight Rises and Marvel does the same with Iron Man 3.

Iron Man 3 opens in 1999 where the old, arrogant playboy Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) attends a conference in Switzerland. He parties with a pretty geneticist named Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall) and ignores Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), a nerdy and lame-legged scientist. In present time, Stark should be standing on cloud nine. He helped fight off an alien invasion and he's now living together with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) in his cliff side Malibu mansion. Instead, Stark is suffering from insomnia and a newfound sense of inadequacy following the events of The Avengers. Next to the enormous green rage monster and the god of thunder, he's just a "man in a can." He suffers from anxiety attacks and takes refuge inside his Iron Man armor, which has become his high-tech security blanket. He spends sleepless nights tinkering in his workshop and building dozens of suits designed to deal with every danger he could possibly imagine.

Danger comes with a savagery Stark hasn't dealt with before as The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), leader of the terrorist group, The Ten Rings, steps up his attacks on America. Meanwhile, Killian has remade himself as a suave, Richard Branson-looking entrepreneur. His think tank, A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics), has developed a super-soldier serum dubbed Extremis, which turns human beings into living bombs. When one of them goes off in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater, Stark brazenly issues a challenge to the Mandarin on live television. The bad guys respond by reducing his house to rubble and forces Stark to rely on more than just his suits.

Jon Favreau, who directed the previous Iron Man movies, returns as a producer and in the supporting role of bodyguard Happy Hogan. Favreau has passed the torch onto Shane Black whose career trajectory mirrors the troubles of Robert Downey Jr. and his onscreen alter ego. Black became one of the highest paid screenwriters in Hollywood off the back of his debut script Lethal Weapon. However, he became persona non grata after costly failures like The Last Boy Scout and The Long Kiss Goodnight. Black reappeared with his directorial debut, the neo-noir comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, starring Downey. Their relationship would lead to Black serving as an unofficial consultant on Iron Man and Iron Man 2. Both Favreau and Downey credit Black with paralleling Tony Stark's moral quandaries with those of Robert Oppenheimer. Though Iron Man 3 is far and away Black's most daunting production yet, Marvel Studios has become enough of an efficient factory that it almost doesn't matter who is at the helm as long as they are halfway competent.

The look and feel of Iron Man 3 fits right into the merry Marvel method of movie making. It's slick without being overly stylish in a Michael Bay or Guy Ritchie sort of way. Iron Man 3 is more action packed than either of its predecessors. There's a thrilling sequence where Iron Man forms a human chain to rescue passengers sucked out of Air Force One. The climax features dozens of armored suits (including one of my favorites, the Silver Centurion) battling an army of Extremis powered soldiers on an offshore oil rig, a classic supervillain hideout. Stark's latest iteration, the Mark 42, can be remote controlled and donned in creative fashion.

The screenplay by Black and Drew Pearce consists of several Black trademarks such as the Christmas setting and a voiceover narration by Downey that stops and rewinds ala Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Black's flair for witty banter is paired perfectly with Downey's penchant for off-the-cuff one-liners. Iron Man 2 was criticized for its preoccupation with building towards Avengers rather than telling a standalone story. That's been corrected here with a more focused sequel with only passing references to Thor and SHIELD. Everyone involved made a concerted effort to metaphorically return Tony Stark to the cave from the first film. Stark crash lands in rural Tennessee where he uses the tools at hand inside a ramshackle garage and befriends a doe-eyed, precocious boy named Harley (Ty Simpkins). This section of the film could have easily veered into mawkish Spielbergian territory, but the sentimentality is constantly undercut by Downey's irreverence. The script brings up the notion that we as individuals and as a nation have created our own enemies, but never digs deeper than surface level.

Don Cheadle's Rhodey (remade as the Iron Patriot) is sidelined for most of the movie and Rebecca Hall is wasted a bit in the underwritten role of Maya Hansen. On the other hand, Gwyneth Paltrow gets the chance to become more than just Stark's sounding board. Pepper Potts is thrown into the action frequently and even puts on the armor for a brief moment. Yes, she plays the damsel in distress, but she also gets to do some saving of her own. Perhaps, the most intriguing character in the threequel is Iron Man's arch-nemesis, the Mandarin. A yellow peril villain in the vein of Fu Manchu, Mandarin has been updated and re-imagined as an uber-terrorist appropriating an iconography of infamy. He's Castro, bin Laden, Qaddafi, Genghis Khan, and Colonel Kurtz all rolled into one. Sir Ben Kingsley portrays the Mandarin in unique fashion with a booming and authoritarian staccato; all accentuated by ominously constructed video threats. However, a twist to the character will have comic book fans launching into conniption fits.

Iron Man 3 not only kicks off the summer blockbuster season, it's the beginning of Marvel Studios' Phase 2 and the course will be exciting judging by the early results. Other comic book threequels suffer from being over long and burdened with too many characters, but Iron Man 3 never feels bloated and moves at a quick clip. This is a fun and vibrant tentpole release bolstered by an exceptionally heroic score from Brian Tyler, one of the best done for Marvel Studios. A return to form for the Iron Man series and a worthy successor to The Avengers.

Rating: **** (*****)

Silver Linings Playbook

Silver Linings Playbook - Dir. David O. Russell (2012)

"You have poor social skills. You have a problem."

"I have a problem? You say more inappropriate things than appropriate things."

In Hollywood, there's a thing called 'director jail.' Make a stinker or flush a studio's money down the toilet and you could be sentenced there for life. Just ask Michael Cimino, who hasn't done anything significant since his infamous bomb, Heaven's Gate. David O. Russell was lucky enough to escape a similar fate. Russell was earning some buzz on the independent scene with the quirky comedies Spank the Monkey and Flirting with Disaster. Then, he helmed the highly successful and critically acclaimed Three Kings, a unique look at the Gulf War with George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg in lead roles. His next picture, the self-described existential comedy I Heart Huckabee's, received mixed reviews and played to many empty theaters. He also received a reputation as an enfant terrible after a video leaked onto the internet of he and Lily Tomlin locked in a heated argument. Production on his follow-up, Nailed, was shut down after losing financing several times.

Along came the story of boxer Micky Ward, which was turned into The Fighter, a film that earned seven Academy Award nominations. Out of Russell's entire oeuvre, The Fighter is his most mainstream and accessible picture. It was a calculated move by Russell to get back into the game and there's no denying it worked like a charm. Russell had his groove back and now he presents his best work yet with Silver Linings Playbook.

Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper) is a high school teacher who launches into a violent rage when he catches his wife, Nikki, in the shower with another man. He is diagnosed as bipolar and sent to a psychiatric hospital in Baltimore. After eight months, Pat is checked out early by his dutiful mother (Jacki Weaver). Despite having a restraining order filed against him, Pat hopes to win Nikki back by exercising regularly, reading great works of literature, and maintaining an optimistic outlook. He's even adopted, "Excelsior!," as his motto, not realizing Stan Lee already beat him to the punch. The road to recovery isn't smooth considering Pat loses his cool the first night out after reading Hemingway's Farewell to Arms and discovering it doesn't have a happy ending.

During a casual dinner with friends, Pat meets Tiffany Maxwell (Jennifer Lawrence), a widow who fell into a self-destructive phase of sexual promiscuity following the death of her husband. Their newfound relationship runs hot and cold, just like Pat's mental state. They bond over their mutual dysfunctions, but part over Pat's tactless behavior. Eventually, they agree to train together for a dance competition in exchange for Tiffany passing on a letter to Nikki.

Silver Linings Playbook is based on a novel by Matthew Quick and adapted for the screen by Russell. Hollywood has a reputation for portraying mental illness with cloying sentimentality or as an excuse for quirky, broad humor. "Silver Linings" may have a slightly sanitized sheen, it's a far more compelling and genuine look at mental issues. Chalk that up to the authors' life experiences. Quick previously worked in the mental health community and battled with his own bouts of depression. Russell's son, Matthew (who appears briefly as a nosy neighbor kid), suffers from bipolar disorder.

Although actors like Vince Vaughn, Mark Wahlberg, and Anne Hathaway were previously attached, it's hard to imagine anyone other than Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence as the leads. Cooper brings his usual self-assured swagger, but injects the role of Pat with sorrow and humanity, which helps with a character that isn't always sympathetic. It girl Jennifer Lawrence earned her Oscar for Best Actress through a performance that is simultaneously fragile and fierce. You root for their relationship because they live without filters. The people around them live seemingly normal lives, but are hiding deep seeded neuroses. Pat's best friend Ronnie (John Ortiz) is married to Tiffany's sister, Veronica (Julia Stiles), and they appear to be the picture of suburban, upper middle class bliss (an iPod port in every room of the house). However, Ronnie is clearly being suffocated by attempts to maintain a contented paternal face. Likewise, Pat's long-suffering mother also puts on the phony façade of happy homemaker dealing with things in her own quiet way (with "crabby snacks and homemades").

Pat Sr. (Robert DeNiro) is the other source of frustration in the Solitano household. He's a diehard Philadelphia Eagles fan who was banned from the stadium for excessive fighting. He gambles large sums on the games and developed obsessive compulsive superstitions he believes will help the team win. Pat Sr. is one of DeNiro's best performances in years and refreshing to see from the legendary actor who has almost fallen into an abyss of self-parody.

Perhaps, the most surprising turn in the film belongs to an understated Chris Tucker as a fellow patient at Pat's hospital. You would never guess this was the same abrasive loudmouth from the Rush Hour movies.

Silver Linings Playbook is a heartwarming take on the romantic comedy. David O. Russell treats the characters and the subject matter with dignity and the results are a feel-good movie about people you normally wouldn't feel good about.

Rating: *** ½ (*****)