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6 Pleasantly Surprising Things About Silver Linings Playbook

If there’s a dark horse with a real chance in this year’s Oscar race, it might just be Silver Linings Playbook. Now everyone’s saying it’s going to be Argo because everyone loves Ben Affleck all of a sudden, or rather they always loved him and found all the hatred to be just SO UNFAIR and now that he has done things that aren’t absolutely terrible we’re therefore going to give him every award there is to give a person. There are some who contend that Lincoln is still the pick to beat because it has the most nominations, it has the Spielberg factor, it has the Daniel Day-Lewis thing, and it has the topical advocacy aspect that if only government acted this way Obama would be able to save the country like Honest Abe did way back when. Hollywood has a tendency for delusions of grandeur. The delusions portrayed in Silver Linings Playbook, though, are one of the many charms about the movie that help maintain its place in the awards conversations.

[h2]6: Chris Tucker is Still Around![/h2]

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If you thought you had seen the last of Chris Tucker on the silver screen, you were so wrong. This one-time (according to IMDb) highest paid actor in Hollywood has appeared only in Rush Hour movies since 1998, but his late 90s work, especially Jackie Brown, showed the promise of some genuinely unique talent. I have no idea where he went for the last 14 years and I don’t care to. In this film, he matches the tone of the piece perfectly. His little monologues about how he likes to keep his hair, this obsessive trait of his character, are at once both absurdly funny and kind of sad.

It’s little elements like this in Silver Linings Playbook that make it such a joy to watch, as audiences have found since its festival premiere. None of the parts seem all that impressive, but their collective sum is something special indeed. That’s why this movie is consistently underestimated: it seems like it won’t amount to all that much, but then it all comes together in such a beautifully handled conclusion, with many lovely touches along the way. It’s a tricky sort of thing. If Oscar wants to avoid awarding anything remotely controversial and just stick with a solid, delightful little movie that will sneak up and floor people, this is the one to choose. And if you haven’t seen it yet, prepare to be surprised.

Did you enjoy Silver Linings Playbook? Or are you an emotionless robot? Find your peace of mind in the comment section below.

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