Film Review: Silver Linings Playbook

The latest craze seems to be the film Silver Linings Playbook, which began as a small independent film with limited release, and grew to amass a box office return more than 10 times its budget (at the time of writing).  I saw this movie in theater just after it made it to my town in January and was blown away by the acting by the always-complex Jennifer Lawrence and the usually-shallow Bradley Cooper.  Perhaps as intriguing, the film is based on the 2008 debut-novel by Matthew Quick.

The biggest surprise had to be Bradley Cooper's performance.  In my opinion, this is the first role he's played that truly had any amount of depth.  His character had a number of mental illnesses that prohibited him (and his family) from leading a normal life.  His goal is to get his act together and get his wife to take him back.  He plans to do this by finding the "silver linings" in everything, essentially finding small positive ways to look at every situation.  This isn't easy, as he has anger issues on top of his other disorders.  Hope seems lost, until he meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence).

Tiffany is another example of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl (MPDG), which I've discussed in previous posts.  The story is less about her personality and mental disorders, and more about how her presence helps Patrick (Bradley Cooper) get his life back.  It's rare with the MPDG motif that the girl actually is manic from a mental illness.  In this case, the motif just plain works.  Tiffany and Patrick are right for each other on so many levels, the audience is rooting for them from the start.

Bookophile Rating: Ludicrous! (For probably the best movie of 2012 and some of Jennifer Lawrence's best acting - she won an Oscar for it).

Film Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, based on the bestselling novel by Stephen Chbosky, follows high school freshman "Charlie," the name being an alias to protect his identity.  Charlie narrates the film, much like he did in the novel, as though he were writing to an anonymous "friend."  Without having read the book, I can see that parts of the film would be difficult to decipher, since a lot of the messages and themes portrayed in the book are through subtext.  In this way, if you watch the film once, then watch it again later, you start to pick up on elements you may be kicking yourself for not getting the first time.

The film is about a boy, Charlie, who is a wallflower (see: loner).  Before the events of the film, he witnessed his best friend commit suicide.  In addition to that scarring incident, there are elements of his past that are unexplained to the viewer that shape his personality.  Before long, he meets Sam, Emma Watson's character.  She is a classic example of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl motif.  Essentially, she is a character that exists only to break the main character (generally a male) out of their shell by getting them to do things that are out of their comfort zone.  It is an overused but nevertheless popular characterization that wasn't as common when the novel was written in 1999, but is all too common today.  Regardless, Emma Watson played her part beautifully and the chemistry with Charlie (Logan Lerman) was palpable.

Besides facets of the story being fairly generic, there are parts that are underrepresented in mainstream film.  Topics like homosexuality and abuse are explored in ways uncommon to films for the target age group.  I recommend this film to teens and twenty-somethings struggling with their identity and place in the world (so pretty much anyone age 13-29).

Bookophile Rating: Excellent (For pushing the boundaries and dealing with tough issues in a well-acted, well-directed film)