Tackling Mental Health In A Warm, Funny Way

I've been meaning to blog about Silver Linings Playbook for a long time. Having seen it twice now, I can conclude that even if you don't like any of the principal characters or actors, you are going to like the movie.

Mental health is a serious issue and many, many movies have chosen it as a main theme, but with a very serious and tragical treatment. With the stigma attached to this illness, comedies about the subject matter are difficult to succeed because any jokes will not be kindly taken. But director David O. Russell (The Fighter) adapted the novel by Matthew Quick into a wonderful warm, funny and touching movie.

The biggest irony of all is that even though the two lead characters in the movie are both former mental illness sufferers - Pat (played by Bradley Cooper) suffered from bipolar disorder and Tiffany (played by Jennifer Lawrence) is a former sex addict - the people who are really currently mentally ill in the movie are all those around them. The key message here is obviously this: let's not discriminate or stigmatize mentally-ill patients because, in reality, all of us may not be as mentally healthy as we think we are.

I've always been a big fan of Bradley Cooper and in addition to playing this role in such a warm, genuine and honest way, he is also the producer of the film. Jennifer Lawrence has already swept both the Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild Best Actress Awards for her role. At 21 when she was shooting the movie, the makeup director had to put extra liquid eyeliner on her to make her look older. Lawrence apparently fought very hard for the role because both Russell and Cooper thought she's too young to play the 'white trash' Tiffany. Now at 22, Lawrence has proven that she can take on any roles with gusto. She's excellent in this movie, but I thought Jessica Chastain is even better in Zero Dark Thirty. Nevertheless, Lawrence will definitely win the Oscar as well.

The entire cast is great and funny, but I've not seen Robert De Niro so good in a comical role in a long time. As Cooper's father, De Niro is not only extremely funny, but he's also an emotional jock with obsessive-compulsive habits. This movie was shot in Philadelphia where Bradley Cooper grew up in real life. De Niro, with his standard New York accent, was asking Cooper's visiting uncle for help when reading the script to make sure that he got the Philly accent right.

At the SAG Awards event, we also learned from Jennifer Lawrence that David O. Russell was drawn to the story because of the connection to his own son, who is bipolar and has OCD. What a great work of art and let's hope the movie will help motivate all mentally ill patients to get better!