Movies: Silver Linings Playbook

"I have a problem? You say more inappropriate things than appropriate things."

Yes, Silver Linings Playbook has finally hit theaters, and the sharp tongue of Tiffany, played by Jennifer Lawrence, is just one of the crazy characters brought to the big screen by David O'Russell, director of 2010's The Fighter.

From left to right: Bradley Cooper, director David O'Russell, Jennifer Lawrence

The movie adaptation of author Matthew Quick's bestselling novel of the same name has won the Audience Award at the Toronto Film Festival, and has grabbed nominations for the 2013 Writers Guild Awards alongside Ben Affleck's Argo and Ang Lee's Life of Pi.

While straying a bit from the book, the movie adaptation of Silver Linings Playbook still holds onto the lightheartedness that captured such a large audience. The relationships between the main character, Pat Peoples, and both his father and his equally-as-zany friend, Tiffany, are highlighted on-screen. Each actor, including Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Tucker, and Robert DeNiro shines and gives memorable, gripping performances. They honor their characters while coloring outside the box, which was perfect for the film. 

Mrs. and Mr. Peoples, played by Jacki Weaver and Robert DeNiro.

"I’ve always been able to separate the art from the business," says author Matthew Quick on the transition between the book and the film, "I think one of the things that’s given me an edge over other people... When you’re writing alone in a room, you’re an artist. But when you send it to New York or L.A. you have to be professional because you’re selling." (on Forbes.com)

I highly recommend both the book and the movie. Silver Linings Playbook is a story that mixes the familiar and the foreign in terms of mental health and different perceptions on life. Definitely go check it out, in theaters now. 

"Calm down, crazy!"

Books: Silver Linings Playbook

In preparation for the movie released in late December 2012, I decided to give Matthew Quick's Silver Linings Playbook a read, and I have to say, this story was something I absorbed myself in right from the beginning. 

SLP tells the story of Pat Peoples, who was just released from a mental hospital and is intent on changing himself to win back his wife Nikki. He means well, but anger often gets the best of him and all he wants to do is please the people he loves most.

Quick does an excellent job of delving into the mind of a very confused, emotionally unstable, obsessive-compulsive man whose daily routine consists of exercising and reading classic literature. Just his thought processes alone are intriguing and almost immediately draw the reader in.

"This kind of story could so easily have been maudlin and depressing but ... it is told with honesty and humor..." -Forbes.com

Forbes couldn't have been more right. An uplifting and heartwarming book, Silver Linings Playbook captures the meaning of happy endings and finding the silver linings in the "movie" of your life. Priorities, dedication, and relationships are some of the things Pat Peoples has to juggle, but he does so with such zaniness and humor that he keeps you cheering him on throughout the whole story.

Between thought-provoking situations and memorable characters, Matthew Quick has created a world more familiar and relatable than not, while dipping into the lives of very ordinary, yet unordinary people, and that's the genius of it all. He has written two other books: Boy 21, and Sorta Like a Rock Star, and his latest work, Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock, is due out in August 2013.

If you like books like The Catcher in the Rye or other books dealing with mental illness, then Silver Linings Playbook will definitely pull you in, adding that heartwarming touch to top it all off. Grab yourself a copy, then go catch the movie, directed by David O'Russell, in theaters December 2012.