
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker, Anupam Kher, John Ortiz, Shea Whigham, Julia Stiles, Paul Herman, Dash Mihok, Matthew Russell
OUR RATING: ★★★½
Story:
Romantic dramedy written and directed by David O. Russell based on the novel of the same name. Silver Linings Playbook (2012) follows Pat (Bradley Cooper), a man with bipolar disorder, who after losing job and wife, and spending time at a psychiatric hospital, moves back in with his parents, Pat Sr. and Dolores (Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver). Determined to win back his estranged wife, Pat meets recently widowed Tiffany Maxwell (Jennifer Lawrence), who offers to help him get his wife back if he enters a dance competition with her. The two become closer as they train, starting up an unusual courtship as they cope with their problems.
Our Favorite Quotes:
'You have to do everything you can. You have to work your hardest. And if you do, if you stay positive, you have a shot at a silver lining.' – Pat (Silver Linings Playbook) Click To Tweet
Best Quotes
Pat: [reading his speech] What, are you kidding me? Sundays? I love Sundays. I live for Sundays. The whole family’s together. Mom makes braciole. Dad puts the jersey on. We’re all watching the game. Yeah, it drives me crazy. And, yes, I was negative. You didn’t even know that I loved it, Nikki, but I did. I just didn’t appreciate it, or you, before.
Pat: [continues his speech] I lost all that. I blew it. But you also blew it. We can get it back. We’re going to get it back. It’s all going to be better now. I’m better now, and I hope you are, too.
Pat: Once you get in the right frame of mind, I think anything’s possible. I think we get, we so often get caught in this state of negativity, and it’s a poison like nothing else.
Randy: What’s more, what’s more American than a cowboy?
Pat Sr.: You know what’s more American?
Randy: What?
Pat Sr.: Benjamin Franklin, that’s what’s more American.
Randy: Benjamin Franklin?
Pat Sr.: Benjamin Franklin. The founder of our country, here in Philadelphia.
Randy: You mean the guy with the little glasses and the long scraggly hair?
Pat Sr.: What about the lightning with the kite? He stood in the storm with a kite.
Randy: If he wasn’t on the hundred dollar bill, nobody would even know who he is.
Pat: So what are you doing with yourself?
Pat Sr.: You know, I’m going to start a restaurant. It’s going to be a cheesesteak place.
Pat: How you going to pay for it?
Pat Sr.: I’m going to pay for it. Don’t worry about it.
Pat: From your bookmaking?
Pat Sr.: Who told you that?
Pat: Mom told me. Outside.
Dolores: I did not. No, I didn’t.
Pat: You just told me outside, mom. What are you talking about? Five minutes ago, we were walking up the stairs, she said, “Don’t say anything, but dad lost his job and he’s bookmaking.”
Pat Sr.: Listen, Patrick, she’s gone. She’s not around anymore. Nikki left.
Pat: What are you doing, dad?! Excelsior! Excelsior. Excelsior.
Pat Sr.: What does that mean?
Pat: It means, you know what I’m going to do, I’m going to take all this negativity, and I’m going to use it as fuel, I’m going to find a silver lining, that’s what I’m going to do. And that’s no bulls**t. That’s no bulls**t. That takes work, and that’s the truth.
'One incident can change a lifetime.' - Dr. Cliff Patel (Silver Linings Playbook) Click To Tweet
Pat: I just can’t believe Nikki’s teaching that book to the kids. I mean the whole time, let me just break it down for you, the whole time you’re rooting for this Hemingway guy to survive the war and to be with the woman that he loves, Catherine Barkley.
Dolores: It’s four o’clock in the morning, Pat.
Pat: And he does. He does. He survives the war, after getting blown up he survives it, and he escapes to Switzerland with Catherine. But now Catherine’s pregnant. Isn’t that wonderful? She’s pregnant. And they escape up into the mountains and they’re going to be happy, and they’re going to be drinking wine and they dance, they both like to dance with each other. There’s scenes of them dancing, which was boring, but I liked it, because they were happy. You think he ends it there? No! He writes another ending. She dies, dad! I mean, the world’s hard enough as it is, guys. It’s f***ing hard enough as it is. Can’t somebody say, “Hey, let’s be positive? Let’s have a good ending to the story?”
Dolores: Pat, you owe us an apology.
Pat: Mom, I, for what? I can’t apologize. I’m not going to apologize for this. You know what I will do? I will apologize on behalf of Ernest Hemingway, because that’s who’s to blame here.
Pat Sr.: Yeah, have Ernest Hemingway call us and apologize to us too.
Pat Sr.: Oh, please. Do us a favor, don’t read for a while. What are you wearing a garbage bag for?
Pat: I’m going to go run now.
Dr. Cliff Patel: [at Pat’s therapy session] I’m sorry about that song. I just wanted to see if it was still a trigger for you.
Pat: Bravo. It’s a trigger. I’m not going to take any meds, I should just tell you that right now.
Dr. Cliff Patel: No, You have to take medicine.
Pat: No, I’m not going to take any medicine.
Pat: My father is the explosion guy. I’m not that guy. He got kicked out of that stadium he beat up so many people at Eagles games. He’s on the exclusion list. I had one incident.
Dr. Cliff Patel: One incident can change a lifetime.
Pat: But I’m ready. I’m ready to take responsibility for my side of the street. She just needs to take responsibility for hers.
Dr. Cliff Patel: What’s hers?
Pat: What’s hers?! Are you joking?
Pat: I don’t feel good when I’m on them, mom. I don’t feel good.
Dolores: You’ve got to take your medication.
Pat: I’m so much clearer without them. Mom, it make me bloated. I don’t like the way it makes me look.
Dolores: Why are you wearing a garbage bag?
Pat: To sweat.
Pat Sr.: Sit down, come on. Sit down.
Pat: I don’t want to.
Pat Sr.: We’re seven minutes in, no score. Come on, help turn the juju around.
Pat: I don’t believe in juju, dad.
Pat Sr.: Oh, come on, Mister Excelsior. You want to be positive? Be positive. Sit down.
Pat Sr.: [as they hear touchdown on the TV] You see?! You see that?! You’re meant to be here! This is special. Everything happens for a reason. That’s why you came home. Embrace it! Embrace it!
Pat: I’m the reason? I don’t think so.
Nancy: What are you doing here?
Pat: I just came by to say hi, to let you know I’m ready to come back to work.
Nancy: You shouldn’t be here.
Pat: I’ll work full-time, half-time. I’ll work, I’ll sub, I’ll work history, whatever you want.
Pat: Aright. I’m better. I just want to let you know, I’m better now. Okay?
Nancy: Yeah.
Pat: I’m better. I feel good. I feel so good. Look at my eyes. Look at my eyes. Look at how clear they are. I’m not a complainer anymore. I’m a positive guy.
Nancy: You know, a lot went down. People will get over it. It’ll be all good. It’ll work out.
Pat: Yes! It will be!
Nancy: Yeah.
Pat: I’m going to take that as a silver development, Nancy! A silver development! That’s a silver lining!
Pat: Congratulations on the baby, but I’m not buying the invitation.
Ronnie: Because you think Veronica still hates you?
Pat: I know Veronica still hates me.
Ronnie: That’s not true.
Pat: Yes, it is. Nikki always said that “Ronnie’s wife keeps his social calendar where she keeps his balls, in her purse.”
Ronnie: That’s not true.
Officer Keogh: Do yourself a favor. Respect the restraining order, okay? Five hundred feet.
Pat Sr.: You hear what he just said? You have a restraining order.
Pat: Yeah, dad, I know
Pat Sr.: Thank you, Officer.
Officer Keogh: If you need anything, my card.
Pat Sr.: Thank you. Sorry. We understand.
Pat: Since when do cops have cards?
Dr. Cliff Patel: [referring to Nikki] Pat, there’s a possibility, and I want you to be prepared for it, that she may not return. True love is about letting her go and seeing if she returns. In the meantime, if you listen to that song, I don’t want you to fall apart. So get a strategy, okay? You need one.
Pat: Let me just say something. I’m going to say something.
Dr. Cliff Patel: Okay.
Pat: This is what I believe to be true. This is what I learned in the hospital. You have to do everything you can. You have to work your hardest. And if you do, if you stay positive, you have a shot at a silver lining.
Veronica: Oh, you wore a jersey to dinner.
Ronnie: Isn’t it awesome?
Veronica: Not for dinner.
Ronnie: I’m not okay. Don’t tell anybody. Listen to me. I feel like I’m getting crushed and…
Pat: Crushed by what?
Ronnie: Everything. The family, the baby, the job, the f***ing d**ks at work. And it’s like, you know, like I’m trying to do this, you know, and then I’m like suffocating.
Pat: Holy s**t.
Ronnie: You can’t be happy all the time.
Pat: Who told you can’t be happy?
Ronnie: It’s alright. You just do your best. You have no choice.
Pat: That’s not true at all.
Ronnie: You just can’t.
Pat: [as Ronnie lets him know Tiffany is coming to dinner] Tiffany and Tommy?
Ronnie: Yeah. I mean, just Tiffany.
Pat: What happened to Tommy?
Ronnie: He died.
Pat: Tommy died?
Ronnie: Cops die.
'The only way you could meet my crazy was by doing something crazy yourself. Thank you. I love you. I knew it the minute I met you. I'm sorry it took so long for me to catch up. I just got stuck.' - Pat (Silver Linings Playbook) Click To Tweet
Pat: I’m not flirting with you.
Tiffany: Oh, I didn’t think you were.
Pat: I just see that you made an effort, and I’m going to be better with my wife, I’m working on that. I want to acknowledge her beauty. I never used to do that. I do that now. Because we’re going to be better than ever, Nikki. Just practicing. How did Tommy die?
Pat: [referring to the frame mounted on the wall] It’s a brick oven, it’s a brick oven.
Tiffany: It’s a light.
Veronica: Ooh. Ooh! Warmer, warmer, warmer. Don’t think so hard. Don’t think so hard. Don’t think so hard.
Tiffany: It’s a drawer at a morgue where they pull out dead bodies and shoot them with formaldehyde.
Pat: Where would the dead body go though? Because the outside…
Tiffany: It’s a joke!
Veronica: It’s a fireplace.
Tiffany: In the middle of the wall?
Veronica: You know, Tiffany’s been doing this dance thing for years and she’s real good at it. She’s going to be competing at the Ben Franklin Hotel.
Pat: Oh, really? My wife loves dance. Nikki loves dance.
Tiffany: Why do you have to talk about me like that?
Veronica: I’m just bragging about you. Can’t I brag about my little sister?
Tiffany: Don’t talk about me in the third person.
Veronica: Please, give it a break.
Tiffany: I’m right here.
Veronica: Just be nice.
Tiffany: What meds are you on?
Pat: Me? None. I used to be on Lithium and Seroquel and Abilify. But I don’t take them anymore, no. They make me foggy and they also make me bloated.
Tiffany: Yeah, I was on Xanax and Effexor. But I agree, I wasn’t as sharp, so I stopped.
Tiffany: Are you going to walk me home or what?
Pat: You mean me?
Tiffany: Yeah, you. Are you going to walk me home?
Pat: You have poor social skills. You have a problem.
Tiffany: I have a problem? You say more inappropriate things than appropriate things. You scare people.
Pat: I tell the truth. But you’re mean.
Tiffany: What? I’m not telling the truth?
Trailer: