'Silver Linings Playbook' -- 3 1/2 stars

( November 15, 2012 )

R; 2:02 running time

For a while there in the Philadelphia-set "Silver Linings Playbook," the unruly protagonist played by Bradley Cooper, by Russell's admission, is an off-putting guy on which to hang a feel-good Oscar-season hopeful. We meet Pat Solatano (Pat Peoples in the novel) as he's finishing up eight months in a state mental health institution. Slowly we learn the circumstances: He is married to a fellow high school teacher, though Pat himself has lost his job, owing to a violent incident alluded to early on and revealed in full later. -- Michael Phillips

Read the full "Silver Linings Playbook" movie review