If the first part of the movie is dark and the second part is light, is the movie bipolar? Crazy great movie.

Is there really a story in this movie? The acting was so organic that it felt genuinely real, as if you were watching filmed version a some family down the street from you. Real life events, real life problems. Patrizio (Pat for short) has been diagnosed with bipolar condition which is triggered when he catches his wife Nikki with the history professor, a colleague from his school, in the shower having sex. After he snaps and almost beats the guy to death he ends up in the mental hospital for eight months. At the end of that period, his mother requests the hospital to discharge her son. After coming back home, he sees that things haven’t changed much except that he is aware of stigma appearing here and there and his wife has moved on. One thing that keeps him hanging on to his sanity and giving him will power to plow on through all the problems is the belief that his wife is waiting for him to get in shape, sort out his life and she will take him back.

During the length of the movie there is hint that the condition has presented itself before, however the movie trails over it and decides not to go into it with great detail. From scene to scene the movie might be a story of every single one of us. Are our lives that different? Then again, if we would like to analyze it further, we can look at it from a wider perspective and say that it shows the new emotionally crippled and disturbed middle age generation which is moving away from polite and sometimes fake facade of social skills to a new raw, emotionless acceptance of flaws and virtues. Being bipolar, OCD, ADD or having some other obsession is a common thing, is it not? If you look at any family, any household, you could spot and recognize elements of  those conditions in certain parts of that person life. This movie is a drama, a comedy, a mystery, a love story – life, with all of its ups and downs.

Bradley Cooper went from “that cool guy in Hangover” (Phil) to showing his acting skills in Limitless and now becoming a bona fide acting star presenting his very best for our viewing pleasure. Jennifer Lawrence portrayed  Tiffany by bringing out her wild and unrestrainable power which made us understand and care for Tiffany Maxwell, disturbed wife of a cop who got killed. Failing to mention Chris Tucker and Robert De Niro (he previously worked with Bradley on Limitless) in this review would be a true neglect. De Niro plays Pat Senior (Bradley Cooper’s character father) who loves NFL, loves Philadelphia Eagles and after being laid off from his job becomes a bookmaker, saving up his earnings to open a cheese steak restaurant. Chris Tucker is an inmate in the same hospital where Pat has been treated, he becomes good friends with Pat and a house pet of sorts to Pat Sr. making his lucky juju works helping Eagles win. This movie feels like an indie movie, it feels like a documentary, it offers no direct answers, it gives no open pressure to be liked, it just is what it is.

P.S.
It helps if you are watching this movie with that special someone. ♥

Who told you you can’t be happy? Excelsior!