BlinkDash

Bradley Cooper could certainly learn something about acting from Jennifer Lawrence. (
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Jennifer Lawrence’s smart, funny and altogether masterful performance as a troubled widow in David O. Russell’s “Silver Linings Playbook’’ simply blows away the competition in this year’s race for the Best Actress Oscar.

The 22-year-old star of the action blockbuster “The Hunger Games’’ not only cements her reputation as the finest actress of her generation in a wildly different kind of role, but lends enough dramatic credibility to elevate a sentimental indie quirkfest into something more than a middling movie, at best.

Bradley Cooper — who never lets you forget for a millisecond he’s “acting’’ in his serious scenes — is the film’s protagonist, Pat, a former high school history teacher in Philadelphia who’s spent eight months in a mental hospital as part of a plea bargain after assaulting a male colleague he found taking a shower with his wife.

Sprung to the custody of his long-suffering mom, Dolores (the wonderful Jacki Weaver), Pat moves in with her and his dad, Pat Sr. (Robert De Niro, much less hammy than usual in a padded role) — because Pat Jr.’s wife has not only sold their former home but has also taken out a restraining order.

That doesn’t stop Pat from undertaking a self-improvement regime that includes reading his estranged wife’s syllabus — she teaches English — and daily runs while wearing a garbage bag to lose weight, all part of a quixotic plan to lure back Mrs. Pat.

De Niro’s Pat Sr. — a big-time fan of the Philadelphia Eagles and a struggling small-time bookie — is dubious about Junior’s plans, and annoyed by the return of a son so compulsive he thinks nothing of waking his parents in the middle of the night to vent his rage over the unhappy ending of “A Farewell to Arms.”

A couple (John Ortiz and Julia Stiles) friendly with Pat and his estranged wife invite Junior to dinner, where the recovering rage-aholic (officially diagnosed as bipolar) piques the interest of the woman’s sister, newly widowed Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), who cheerfully describes herself as “a crazy slut with a dead husband.”

Pat nixes Tiffany’s instant invitation to spend the night together because he’s optimistic about getting back together with his wife, despite the considerable odds. But she quickly wears down his resistance to even being friends.

Like quite a few other things in Russell’s screenplay — based on a novel by Matthew Quick — Tiffany’s behavior might seem arbitrary, or even downright contrived, in the hands of an actress of a lesser caliber than Lawrence.

Indeed, she’s such a sexy, magnetic presence that sometimes you barely notice Cooper in their scenes together. At other times, her sheer acting chops almost manage to convince you that the two wildly mismatched stars — Lawrence is 15 years younger — actually have chemistry together.

She creates a crucial emotional investment as the plot gets more and more ridiculous and corny, with Tiffany recruiting Pat as her partner in a dance competition — on which his father bets his life savings in an absurd parley that even more improbably requires an Eagles victory over the Cowboys in the NFL playoffs.

“Silver Linings Playbook,” which has won audience awards at several film festivals — and is being presented by the indie world’s Sultan of Schmaltz, Harvey Weinstein — is as shameless about pandering to moviegoers as the most formulaic big-studio product. That includes wringing laughs from some fairly egregious stereotypes.

Chris Tucker makes a rare screen appearance as a mental-hospital pal of Pat’s who periodically escapes — principally to teach Pat how to dance like a black man (really? In 2012?). And then there’s Pat’s wacky Indian psychiatrist, who’s also a rabid Eagles fan . . .

I must confess a relatively low tolerance for movies that romanticize, much less trivialize, serious mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder — which here is laughed off as a somewhat charming quirk that’s easily managed with medication. But that’s probably to be expected from a director like Russell, who has famous real-life issues with anger management.

But because of Lawrence, I just can’t write off this movie. The way she inhabits an underwritten role is so amazing that, despite reservations, I can heartily recommend “Silver Linings Playbook.”

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