Silver Linings Playbook is a film written and directed by David O. Russell.  The movie follows Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper), a man suffering from bipolar disease, who returns home to live with his parents, Pat Sr. (Robert De Niro) and Dolores (Jacki Weaver), after spending eight months in a mental health institution.  The violent episode that landed Pat in the institution is uncovered early on, and it was the reason he lost his job, house, and wife.  Pat is destined to get his life back on track and hopes to reunite with his wife after she sees his positive improvements; however, things get complicated when Pat meets Tiffany Maxwell (Jennifer Lawrence), a woman with some serious issues of her own.  Tiffany agrees to help Pat get back together with his wife but only if he agrees to help her in a dance competition.  Pat and Tiffany form an intriguing bond, and each of their lives are forever changed.

From the moment I watched this movie in theaters, I knew immediately that it was the best movie I had seen all year.  After continuing to watch other Oscar-nominated films, it sustained its position as my personal favorite of 2012.  David O. Russell’s film features everything I could possibly want in a movie: mesmerizing drama, clever humor, intriguing love, and of course, sports.  The combination of all of these factors creates one of the year’s most enjoyable motion pictures.  Russell adapted this screenplay from Matthew Quick’s novel of the same name.

The film has received a considerable amount of acclaim, both critically and commercially.  It has already been nominated and won for a handful of major movie awards, and it will be up for eight Academy Awards at the Oscars on Sunday.  One of the most noteworthy accomplishments the film has already attained is being nominated for the “Big Five” Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay).  This feat is momentous because it is the first movie since The Remains of the Day (1993) to be nominated in all of the five major categories at the Oscars.  The film is also up for each of the four acting categories, the first movie to conquer this achievement since Reds (1981).

Speaking of those four acting performances, each of the nominated actors and actresses deliver portrayals that are quite worthy of the critical praise they have received.  Bradley Cooper gives the performance of his career, and the ways in which he fully engrosses himself into his character are nothing short of spectacular.  There is never a moment you doubt Cooper’s character’s condition because of the heart and soul he puts into making the character authentic to the story.  Jennifer Lawrence, a young actress that has already been nominated for Best Actress before (Winter’s Bone, 2010), shows us that she is destined to become one of the film industry’s most powerful actresses.  This role is much more demanding in regards to emotional complexity than her role in Winter’s Bone, and Lawrence gives everything she has to a depiction that may earn her the Oscar for Best Actress.

Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver each provide astounding supporting performances as Pat’s parents, Pat Sr. and Dolores.  Pat’s father has fallen on hard times after losing his job, and he resorts to bookmaking in order to raise enough funds to ultimately open a restaurant.  The two-time Oscar winning De Niro gives a veteran performance and provides some of the movie’s brightest scenes.  Weaver gives a remarkable performance of her own as Pat’s mother.  As the matriarch of the Solitano family, Dolores must continue being the glue that holds the family together as their personal issues threaten to tear the family unit apart, and Weaver plays the role to a tee.  Silver Linings Playbook is rated R for language, some sexual content, and nudity.

Academy Award nominations for Silver Linings Playbook:

Best Picture (Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen, Jonathan Gordon, Producers)

Actor in a Leading Role (Bradley Cooper)

Actor in a Supporting Role (Robert De Niro)

Actress in a Leading Role (Jennifer Lawrence)

Actress in a Supporting Role (Jacki Weaver)

Directing (David O. Russell)

Film Editing (Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers)

Best Adapted Screenplay (David O. Russell)

Previous movies on the countdown of the Top 15 Films of the Year:

2. Moonrise Kingdom

3. Zero Dark Thirty

4. Skyfall

5. Django Unchained

6. Life of Pi

7. Amour

8. Les Misérables

9. Beasts of the Southern Wild

10. Looper

11. The Perks of Being a Wallflower

12. The Dark Knight Rises

13. Flight

14. The Master

15. Argo