Silver Linings Playbook

As Pat, a recently institutionalized former teacher battling through his newly single life and his bipolar disorder, Bradley Cooper sends a thunderous message in Silver Linings Playbook: He’s a legitimate, big-time dramatic actor. However, as good as Cooper is, the movie (and indeed, possibly the year) belongs to Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence, whose portrayal of the unstable nymphomaniac who somewhat literally waltzes into Pat’s life is simply transcendent. The fact that both of them are executing at such high levels in a rather unconventional film is a testament as much to director David O. Russell as the actors. Russell (The Fighter) has been working for nearly 20 years to find his signature project, and here it is—strange, kinetic, funny, sad, totally original and surprisingly moving. Silver Linings Playbook is one of the best films of the year.