Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

All Critics (234) | Top Critics (53) | Fresh (208) | Rotten (18) | DVD (2)

It's a rom-com that succeeds in revitalizing that discredited genre where so many others have failed, injecting it with the grit and emotion of realist drama rather than with amped-up whimsy or social satire or montages of people walking on the beach.

January 4, 2013 Full Review

Andrew O'Hehir

Salon.com

Top Critic

Silver Linings Playbook tells us that happily-ever-after may depend on finding people who coexist with our lunacy, not ones who can lead us out of it. In any case, it's crazy good.

January 4, 2013 Full Review

Colin Covert

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Top Critic

A crazy beaut of a comedy that brims with generosity and manages to circumvent predictability at every turn.

January 4, 2013 Full Review

Lisa Schwarzbaum

Entertainment Weekly

Top Critic

An edgy romantic dramedy that suits our anxious times.

November 21, 2012 Full Review

Elizabeth Weitzman

New York Daily News

Top Critic

This meaningful film keeps the laughs, giddy anxiousness and warm butterflies from the trailer and sustains it all through two full hours of a love story.

November 21, 2012 Full Review

Ricardo Baca

Denver Post

Top Critic

I don't know about all the Oscar love this romantic comedy/sports flick hybrid (think Jerry Maguire) received, but the funny, poignant and well-acted movie was undoubtedly one of the must-see films of 2012.

May 7, 2013 Full Review

Phil Villarreal

COEDMagazine.com

Fans of this oddly unpleasant wish-fulfillment fantasy should be pleased this solid Blu-ray transfer.

May 1, 2013 Full Review

Chuck Bowen

Slant Magazine

A deft treatment of its delicate subject material and some remarkable performances that give the film both touching, raw, authentic emotion and a certain kinetic humor.

April 23, 2013 Full Review

Bruce Bennett

Spectrum (St. George, Utah)

Jennifer Lawrence is the only aspect of the film that truly lives up to the trumped-up awards buzz and hype, but being a perfectly enjoyable light comedy with heaps of heart is no small feat in itself.

March 31, 2013 Full Review

Michael Dequina

TheMovieReport.com

I love the work that deNiro and Lawrence do here, but ultimately all they do is prove the old adage that you can cover up a lot of problems with the script by hiring good actors.

March 21, 2013 Full Review

Dan Jardine

Cinemania

"Silver Linings Playbook" could not be a more awkward love story. But I loved every second of it!

March 6, 2013 Full Review

Jolene Mendez

Entertainment Spectrum

Silver Linings Playbook looks like your run-of-the-mill wacky family comedy, but it's an important film and a great one that deserves to sweep the awards it's nominated for.

February 26, 2013 Full Review

Rima Sabina Aouf

Concrete Playground

Silver Linings Playbook is defined by the positive decisions that are made in the face of imperfection, desperation, and the desolate wasteland of your world in pieces.

February 23, 2013 Full Review

Blake Howard

2UE That Movie Show

Director David O. Russell forms a unique and incredible romance dramedy...

February 19, 2013 Full Review

Felix Vasquez Jr.

Cinema Crazed

There is some charm to the story, but the final act is very neat, predictable, contrived, and not up to originality of the first two.

February 18, 2013 Full Review

Mark R. Leeper

Mark Leeper's Reviews

Director David O. Russell is a little too chipper at times - breaking a restraining order is really no joke - but he brings a breeziness to this likeable tale of two misfits trying to make it work.

February 15, 2013 Full Review

Jim Schembri

3AW

It may be a Hollywood comedy, but it's one that feels beautifully alive.

February 11, 2013 Full Review

Cara Nash

FILMINK (Australia)

On the surface Silver Linings Playbook is a raucous romantic comedy, but its real interests are superstition and delusion.

February 4, 2013 Full Review

Mark Pfeiffer

Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema

A volatile mix of familial drama and madcap comedy, infectious optimism and razor-wire wit, it's one of the most purely enjoyable films released in the past twelve months.

February 3, 2013 Full Review

Tom Clift

Moviedex

Parece desistir de qualquer traço de originalidade em seu clímax, quando se entrega a todos os clichês do gênero: mal-entendidos, mocinhos obrigados a correr atrás da mocinha pela rua e, claro, o insuportável travelling circular do beijo romântico.

February 3, 2013 Full Review

Pablo Villaca

Cinema em Cena

I suppose the phrase 'serious romantic comedy' sounds like a paradox. But that's exactly what 'Silver Linings Playbook' is: an intelligent, edgy dark comedy with romance at its core.

February 3, 2013 Full Review

Linda Cook

Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)

This is a rom-com dressed up as an Oscar-baiting "dramedy". It's a good rom-com thanks to it's edge... but occasionally has the bad traits of a bad rom-com.

January 31, 2013 Full Review

Matt Neal

The Standard

Silver Linings Playbook puts the "fun" in "dysfunction." And sure, that sounds glib, but actually, it's a rather extraordinary achievement. Especially when you're skirting on the edges of sanity.

January 30, 2013 Full Review

Alice Tynan

The Vine

A bittersweet pill that's a mixture of an endearing family drama and modern romance that's an absolute delight.

January 30, 2013 Full Review

Cameron Williams

The Popcorn Junkie

tows the line of conventional, feel-good Hollywood rom-com, albeit dressed up in just enough art-house quirk to make it feel like something slightly radical

January 30, 2013 Full Review

James Kendrick

Q Network Film Desk

• 1. Pat Sr.: The only way to beat my crazy was by doing something even crazier. Thank you. I love you. I knew it from the moment I saw you. I'm sorry it took me so long to catch up.
  – Submitted by Junhua L (36 days ago)
• 1. Tiffany: I'm just a crazy slut with a dead husband!
  – Submitted by Guido M (49 days ago)
• 1. Pat: Just trying to be romantic.
  – Submitted by Eman B (52 days ago)
• 1. Danny: C'mon Pat, black it up!
  – Submitted by Marcy B (53 days ago)
• 1. Tiffany: Humanity is just nasty and there's no silver lining.
  – Submitted by Mati M (54 days ago)
• 1. Older Waitress: Slow down, Raisin Bran.
  – Submitted by Zach C (59 days ago)