You may
look at the name of this film and the subject matter and you may well decide to
steer clear of it. It’s understandable. Especially if you haven’t read the
book. Mental illness and family difficulties may sound a tad bit too serious
for an evening out. Luckily this particular baby has 8 Oscar® nominations and a
big name like Robert De Niro for extra pull. A good thing too, otherwise
audiences would miss out on one of the sweetest films made in recent history.
Pat
(Bradley Cooper) is just out of hospital.
This would be a sensitive time for anyone, but especially for Pat and
his family, because Pat is just out of a mental institution. Having just discovered he had undiagnosed
Bipolar Disorder (after what we shall call for now a rather unfortunate
incident involving his ex-wife and her lover) he has undergone the necessary
treatment and is now ready to face society once again – or is he? Yes, Pat
seems to be doing everything he possibly can to get his life back on track but
with one caveat. He wants his life back on track so he can get back together
with his ex-wife. His ex-wife has a restraining order on him, so, as you can
imagine, this is not an entirely straightforward process. In the midst of all
this, however, his friends and relatives are doing the best they can to support
him. His father’s (Robert De Niro) OCD is as bad as ever and it’s all his
mother (Jacqui Weaver) can do to keep them both in line. Besides, on good days
Pat is buoyant, full of energy and optimism… But then there are the bad days… The
bad days are really bad… Especially considering Pat is not too hot on the idea
of taking his meds. But then, then Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence of The Hunger
Games fame) comes into his life. Tiffany has her own demons to contend with,
this much is obvious. She is intelligent, sassy, talented, ok she’s more than a
little crazy, but she may well be just what Pat needs… If he can get his mind
off his ex-wife for two seconds that is…
Now, on the
one hand there are things I don’t like that much about this film. Mainly the
fact that, when you scratch the bottom of it, it is blindingly obvious who’s
going to get together with who, etc, etc. Ok it’s technically a spoiler so I
won’t tell you the end, but yeah. It’s basically the first scenario you thought
of. You might say, why get upset with that? Films like that are two a penny,
why let this specific one get to you? Well my dears, simply because, the film
has SO much promise in other areas I would have honestly expected a lot better
from it. A lot better.
Having had
personal experience of people with Bipolar disorder, I can safely say that both
the character of Pat and his relationship with his family are accurate to the
bone. I have read reviews from viewers with the same disorder, all highly
recommending anyone who has the disorder – and now has it under control – and
the families and loved ones of anyone with this disorder to see the film. I
second that. You will see SO MUCH that is so familiar. Pat is infuriating. His
behaviour is erratic to say the least and sometimes downright dangerous, both
to himself and to those around him. But with his endless optimism, his
seemingly inexhaustible ability to bounce back, you can’t help but love him as
well. Then there is the relationship with his father. Again, this is not a
particularly original theme, but, maybe due to Robert De Niro’s great talent,
there were bits that brought tears to my eyes. Not only are they a typical
father – son in that everyone is very “manly” and problems and feelings are not
discussed, the father also suffers from what is obviously quite serious OCD.
I guess the
point is we’re all a little mad when you think about it but we’re all trying to
battle our personal demons, be they big or small, towards the same goals in
life. Love, happiness, success… Ok, yes,
I do think bits of it could be worked out a lot better. But the bits that work,
work SO damn well… I don’t know man, you just HAVE to see it.
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