Thursday, December 11, 2014

Silver Linings Playbook

While I am not the biggest romantic comedy watcher or expert, I thought that the movie Silver Linings Playbook was an interesting movie and transcends many of the negative connotations of romantic comedies that have been shared on the blog. The movie features Bradley Cooper, in the movie named Patrick, and Jennifer Lawrence, named Tiffany. While the movie opens with Patrick being released from a psychiatric hospital for his bipolar disorder, he moves back in with his parents and is determined to win back his former wife. In the process, he meets the widow Tiffany, who offers to help him win his wife back if he competes in a dance competition with her. Pat and Tiffany are able to develop an odd friendship through their shared neuroses, which progresses as they spend more time together. The plot immediately reveals the complexity in the film that many romantic comedies stereotypically lack. Although it may appear predictable of what is "inevitably" going to happen as Pat and Tiffany hang out more, their unique characters do not allow for a foreseeable ending. Casey mentioned on her post that despite the predictability in romantic comedies, they thrive in society because we are familiar with them and they are comforting. I feel as though Silver Linings Playbook creates the same intriguing effect, but with a story line that is not traditional to romantic comedies.

Additionally, while throughout the movie Pat is chasing his wife and he ends up leaving his pursuit for Tiffany, which may have been expected, I don't think it matters. Sure, maybe it fell into the stereotype of a romantic comedy, but it was funny and entertaining. I think that sometimes people get caught up in trying to evaluate what genres or stereotypes movies fall into and judging them based on that, often forgetting if they liked the movie or not. While Silver Linings Playbook was a unique romantic comedy, I think it was enjoyable just as a movie.

3 comments:

  1. That's an interesting post. I like to think that I don't judge movies and evaluate them as I watch, but from time to time we all do. I think that we should wait till after the movie to judge them and evaluate them so we aren't caught up during the movie.

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  2. I like your point that rather than evaluating a story as a certain genre, we should accept it as a unique work. Silver Linings Playbook is a good example of how categorizing a book or movie as a romantic comedy does not mean it is cliche or predictable. While it has some common elements of romantic comedies, it is an interesting and original story.

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  3. Yeah I agree. Rom Coms generally make us happy and comfortable, but Silver Linings Playbook sort of goes against the grain. It isn't a typical rom com, it makes you a little uncomfortable but you can still identify with the feelings depicted in the movie.

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