M’lady and I stumbled upon this movie today and LOVED it. We were searching our local listings last night and this one seemed like tolerable entertainment. We wanted some light, relaxing viewing, not violent (seems like a surfeit of that lately), not tooo long (it clocked at 2 hr 2 min), not too stupid (always a surfeit of those).
A Rotten Tomatoes Critic’s review snippet piqued our interest when it said “…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…”. (Emphasis mine. Critic’s full review here but don’t spoil it for yourself if your not normally inclined to know the full story before seeing a movie.) Robert de Niro is in it. (Though he did do that terrible Meet the Parents/Fockers stuff didn’t he? Man’s got to earn a living I suppose.)
Rom-com is romantic-comedy of course, a genre I usually loathe to see. “Grit and emotion of realist drama” changed my mind and I’m glad it did. The movie centers around people with mental health issues. It doesn’t delve too deeply but reminds us that, as opposed to the total nut-jobs in real life recently who are shooting up schools and theaters, there are others considerably less dangerous who are ‘disturbed’, ‘upset’, or ‘with issues’. (If only we knew which were which.) Since the movie has been in release for 7 weeks and no doubt in production for quite a few months before I’m sure it didn’t have recent current events in mind.
It was hilarious. I burst out laughing many many times. That’s a compliment considering my droll sense of humor. It takes good writing. Funny lines, intriguing story. You FEEL for these people. You want them to win. It was touching at times. I didn’t cry! Honest!! I saw m’lady brushing away a tear or two, but I’m getting better!
Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence were outstanding. (She, I researched after the movie, starred as Katniss in the recent hit The Hunger Games.) ALL the actors are excellent. The movie takes place in Philadelphia residential areas and though well filmed isn’t likely to get Oscars for cinematography, costume design, or the like.
If you’re looking for good honest laughs and feel-good entertainment this is it. It’s a dialog movie. I’d have been equally satisfied if it was 10-15 minutes shorter but the 2 hours flat didn’t bother m’lady and I loved every minute of it anyway. There are a lot of F-words throughout, and a few others, if you’re phobic to that. Instead of the usual gratuitous use they were mostly applied for good effect.
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.
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