Silver Linings Playbook Blu-ray Review: Dysfunctional Fun

Silver Linings Playbook Blu-ray Review

• Movie Review
• Video and Audio Quality
• Blu-ray Special Features 
• Blu-ray Specifications

Movie: 10/10, Video: 7/10, Audio: 9/10, Special Features: 8/10

Movie Review

I’m sure many people would relish the thought of beating their wife’s lover to death. Bradley Cooper’s Pat Solitano does exactly that, earning him an 8 month stint in rehab and a restraining order from his wife Nikki. After the 8 months,
he ends up back at home with his parents and tries to reclaim the love of his wife. His ambition intertwines his path with another dysfunctional character named Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) who went through a promiscuous streak following the death of her husband. Pat needs Tiffany’s help to deliver a letter to Nikki (restraining orders make this Mission Impossible) and in return Pat must go to a dance competition with Tiffany (the You Owe Me One policy).

What take this movie across effectively are the characters and the sense of humor. When focusing on the humor, it’s rather crude and dark. This is most evident in Pat’s unrestrained use of dead-husband jokes targeted at Tiffany, unintended of course. It may turn a few people off but his blatant delivery of these statements and lack of compassion in these instances do draw several laughs. Watching the idiosyncrasies of nearly all the characters only magnifies this sense of laughter. Pat’s bipolar tendencies, Tiffany’s sex-filled backstory, Pat Sr.’s (Robert De Niro) superstitions regarding sports games to aid his betting and bookmaking, all in the hope of earning to build a restaurant,  and Ronnie’s (Pat’s friend) coping strategies for his prison sentence (aka marriage).

You might think that seeing such a group of oddballs would create feelings of revulsion but it’s hardly the case. Many critics thought that Bradley Cooper was not a lead that you could pull for in the movie. I disagree. His need to beat up his wife’s lover is understandable. While he tries to recover with his optimistic ideology to regain his wife’s affection, everything around him acts as a hindrance to this objective. The officer looking at his case, his parents, and the community’s free-flowing attempts to stigmatize him all create sympathy towards this protagonist. Flashbacks explicitly showing the manner in which he discovered his wife’s infidelity will only serve to wrench your gut. You root for Cooper all the time.  Heartfelt moments are abound in the film, especially with De Niro’s candid pouring of thoughts to his son Pat who he neglected in his early years. Jennifer Lawrence’s Tiffany balances this out with her own hardcore habits and wildly unexpected decisions, while bringing her own emotional baggage. It’s a thrill to watch these characters strive for redemption, filtering through their own distinctive mess to find that Silver Lining, whether it be through a dance competition that creates an unlikely friendship or a superstition that gives you a surreal sense of confidence and accomplishment.

Use letters when words fail.

Blu-ray Video Quality

The picture is rather dark and gloomy throughout. Thank Philadelphia for that. Most of the interior scenes shot in rooms where your conventional orange lights are present, emphasize this fact. In the daylight scenes, the picture appears pale, and it must be said that this is apt, as it rather reflects the clutter and bleak state of each character’s mind.

Blu-ray Audio Quality 

The soundtrack for the movie is predominantly a collection of music classics, featuring Stevie Wonder and so on. The movie’s own distinct score is occupied by acoustics that accompany the residential suburbs the film is shot in quite effectively. The two complement each other.  It serves well to do this as the area seems almost devoid of technology. Using modern, hip music would seem completely incompatible. The audio is in other words, fine. 

Blu-ray Special Features

• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 26:14) - This bit is more than your typical deleted scenes. It adds value to the movie, whereas in other movies their inclusion shows us why these scenes were deleted in the first place.

• Silver Linings Playbook: The Film that Became a Movement (1080p; 28:37) - Major players in the cast and crew give some detailed insight in this series of interviews.

• Q&A Highlights (1080p; 27:00) - Most of the answers come from Bradley Cooper, Robert de Niro, Jennifer awareness and David O'Russell.

• Dance Rehearsal (1080p; 1:22) - A short clip of the leading duo rehearsing.

• Learn to Dance Like Pat and Tiffany (1080p; 11:45) - Choreographer Mandy Moore gives us dance lessons and breaks down the dance sequence of the film.

• Going Steadicam with Bradley Cooper (480i; 00:56) Bradley Cooper plays a/the fool trying to be a cameraman.

Blu-ray Specifications

Video
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Audio

English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1

Subtitles

English, Spanish

Discs
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
UV digital copy
iTunes digital copy
DVD copy

Playback
Region A 


Or check out the film on Amazon Instant Video.

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