Movie Review: "Silver Linings Playbook"

When I first heard about this movie, I was curious, because that was all I heard - that it was about to come out. It looked romantic-y, so I was wondering if I might want to see it. Then I saw some of the clips, and whatwith Jennifer Lawrence's character having some having-sex-with-everyone issues, I figured maybe it wasn't something I wanted to see. But when I heard it had good depictions of psychiatric disorders, particularly bi-polar, my interest was piqued again. And then of course there was Oscar buzz, and the more I heard and saw things about it, the more I wanted to see it. And then my aunt and cousins said it was good and didn't mention anything sex-y about it, so I decided that yes I wanted to see it, and of course, the sooner the better. So when Chelley came this weekend and we had to figure out things to do, I came down heavily on the side of seeing this (although she didn't balk at all anyway).
I really, really liked it. Another one where the credits came and I was left sitting there thinking, "that was really good" (though really I had been thinking that through the whole thing, wishing it could've been a mini-series or something so they could've fit more in there). I did think it did a good job of portraying bi-polar disorder - Bradley Cooper gave an outstanding performance, capturing subtleties and saying so much with his facial expressions. Jennifer Lawrence was great, too, though I don't know that it was an Oscar-deserving role. Nothing against her acting, there just wasn't enough to the role to make it Oscar-y in my opinion.
I liked how they portrayed his family as well. It showed the effect the disorder has on the person's loved ones, both the struggles they have and the love they have for the person. Robert DeNiro was excellent as a father who is all man, having difficulty relating to his son as doing so would force him to make himself vulnerable. The rest of the cast is wonderful as well.
It's a beautiful movie, and I highly, highly recommend it.

This is a video someone made with clips from the movie, to "Unwell," by Matchbox Twenty. If you want an understanding of what a person with bi-polar disorder is going through, I think this does a fabulous job portraying it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnLAsEMzIqA