Looking for "Silver Linings"

Sometimes I go to movies that are so well acted that I feel like I am watching real life. Eavesdropping.  "Silver Lining Playbook" is that kind of movie.  I must say that I was uncomfortable for the first half of the story.  This is a dark comedy about serious subjects. Bradley Cooper plays a guy who has just been released from a metal institution. He had been their eight months in lieu of jail for something key to the story.  He is bi-polar and OK when on his meds, but he doesn't like taking them.  He lives with his parents who live for the Philadelphia Eagles games with he dad being a "book maker" taking bets on games.  He has a friend, Chris Tucker, who keeps running away from the institution and Cooper's character meets a girl (Jennifer Lawrence )who has as many problems as he because of her husbands death.  Everybody's Crazy!   But everyone has a theory. In this case our main character believes in looking for positive silver linings.

About half way through the flick, I forgot the eavesdropping and was emotionally invested.  It is sometimes difficult to watch because we have similar problems in our lives or the lives of our loved ones.

Jennifer Lawrence (Hunger Games) and Bradley Cooper carry the story, but supporting actors are like Robert DeNiro and Chris Tucker.

Not your typical popcorn movie.  I have to use your mind.

I give it ****stars.  2012 movie #45