I apologize ahead of time for not including the trailer we are about to discuss in the post but I have a firm policy against ads ON ads. So when movie trailers come with ads SAY NO. I will not watch a commercial in order to see a commercial. Hollywood has tricked people into thinking that trailers are free cliff-note movies but no, they are just commercials. So, I won't. I won't! And all the embeds without ads were fuzzy so I can't. I can't.
Wait, I found one just as I was about to post this. Okay embedded. For you.
"Calm down crazy," quoth Jennifer Lawrence (and the Sassy Gay Friend before her)
But yes Silver Lining Playbook trailer is upon us and so we must break it down with the Yes, No, Maybe So™ system.
YES
- David O. Russell has yet to make a bad film. Spanking the Monkey, Flirting With Disaster, Three Kings, I ♥ Huckabees, and The Fighter... they're all special in one way or another. And the last two (Huckabees, The Fighter just seem to get better and better all the time)
- Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence are both at very key moments in their careers and this could be a dual breakthrough: Bradley's achieved mainstream popularity but he hasn't proved himself in prestige actor's pieces with important directors; Jennifer needs to show there's more in her than tough Appalachian girls with mad survival skills (Winter Bones, Hunger Games) because there are only so many of those roles.
- If you were on "Team Jacki" by way of Animal Kingdom in 2010 like Movie|Line and The Film Experience, isn't it great to see her pop up in a big supporting role opposite an actual giant of cinema (Yes, De Niro still qualifies historically even though he hasn't truly wowed for about 21 years now.). So glad she got a good agent because some unlikely Oscar nominees vanish, you know?
- That Hemingway bit is funny.
- As are the dinner party Klonopin faces.
NO
- Isn't mental illness cute and funny?
- A dance competition for the mentally ill. Really? This could all go so twee with any fumble of choreography and turn into a movie only Zooey Deschanel and Greta Gerwig's Damsel in Distress might love.
Team Jacki 2012 Edition
MAYBE SO
- This looks rather visually unappealing but then Russell's filmography doesn't always look as special as it is closeup from a distance. And it could be the quality of the trailer which isn't available in glorious quicktime. Boo.
- The world is desperately in need of funny smart romantic comedies. And Russell can do funny. Every single movie he's made has huge quality laughs.
- Is it just me or does Jennifer Lawrence actually look like she's playing it too broad here? Big line readings. "This is a funny line I'm saying" indicators. I'm slightly worried. And I've just realized that I've never seen her do comedy before.
- I'm getting a whiff of The Descendants here. i.e. a filmmaker I really love suddenly making an inauthentic stiff blunder that everyone but me thinks is Best Picture Quality Heartwarming. I can't take that two years in a row! Pass the Klonopin.
The trailer what scooped me up and made me mental.
Are you a Yes, No, or Maybe So?
And I suppose I should switch Jennifer Lawrence from the Supporting Chart to the Lead one now. Has anyone read the book?