First and foremost, I will post no spoilers :D Feel free to read on then..
The first time I heard about this movie was when I was browsing the 'net. It caught a bit of my attention because of two things...and no, it wasn't the ones on Jennifer Lawrence [LOL]...1.] Bradley Cooper - because I loved his performances in the Hangover films, A-Team and Limitless. Number 2 would be that this movie is also starring Robert De Niro which has to be one of my favourite actors of all time.Of course, I couldn't leave out Jennifer Lawrence as my girlfriend likes her. We both laugh at how she's so not like her serious characters when she does interviews.
Anyhoo, in this movie Bradley Cooper plays Pat who finished his "time" in a Mental Institution for a serious breakdown [don't worry I won't spoil anything here]. He then lives with his parents played by Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver [who was brilliant]. He tries to "re-make" himself and live right so as to rekindle his marriage to Nikki, his wife of course. Along the way Pat meets Tiffany [Jennifer Lawrence] who also seems to have problems on of her own. Tiffany agrees to help Pat out with his issues as long as she gets something in return.
The movie is a bit hard to track as it jumps right in the story. You'll only get to see what happened before via flashback. But that doesn't ruin it at all, you can still piece it together slowly but surely.
I also liked how it tackles other subjects than the main storyline [Pat's story], like how his family is coping with him coming back. Robert De Niro played a stellar job [in my eyes at least]. His characterization of Pat's Dad will let you know that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. This also the first time I've watched Bradley Cooper do something more serious and dramatic. Although his character almost always had some sort of blank expression on his face. Jennifer Lawrence was as great as Robert. It was more mature than most her her movies [LOL I've only watched Hunger games]. There are times where I think she was kinda like a living breathing Daria Morgendorferr due to her low voice [the director told Jen to lower her voice] and attitude in the movie. Her role as Tiffany won her a Golden Globe. Watching her performance here makes me think that she really should win. I wish she did more movies like this or she'll be typecasted for her role in the Hunger Games just like Daniel Radcliffe was for Harry Potter.
The story is somewhat the ol' "boy meets girl" arc but with a few complications along the way. It's not that it's boring but the story isn't really something new. There are a few more things added to the story to prolly sort of liven it up or spice things up but ultimately it still goes back to a tried and tested formula. In the end it was still great story and movie, I just recently found out it had 8[!] Academy Award Nominations. 1 award more than Argo [which i'll prolly watch next]. Best part of the movie for me? Brad and Jen dancing! Why were they dancing? What kind dance? Watch it and find out :D
It's a worthwhile watch for me. I'd recommend you to go see this movie, sure there's alot of big named stars in it but it really is a very good movie...I mean why else would it be nominated an Oscar for Best picture right? Right.
