Introducing ... Rhona!

Huh, this seems a lot more intimidating than when I was collaborating on that Craptacular Academy Awards post! I guess it's because if you didn't like my style of writing or reviewing, at least you had your trusty guide Ben to pick up my shattered pieces ... oh well, deal with it!

I have been mentioned a few times and my name is in the title of this very post, but I guess it's best to get introductions out the way - Hello! How are you? How's the wife? ... Oh, ah, I see. Well, um, I'm sorry it didn't work out ...

Everything I aspire to be in life, and more.

Anyway! My name is Rhona, I'm a nineteen year old film student and a buddy of Ben's. How did I come across this prestigious opportunity to write on Ben's blog? I didn't sleep with him! Gosh, filthy lot you are. No, see, the other weekend I (finally) hauled my ass onto a train and went through to visit Ben. Whilst I was there, I mentioned that I was thinking about creating my own film blog because I enjoyed writing for the Oscars post (a blog that has been made and look, a couple of shiny new reviews! clickity click.). Shameless plug now out the way, after mentioning this, Ben asked me if I fancied writing here - he wanted to up the number of times this blog was updated per week and it seemed like a good idea! Now, because Benny-Boy is a shmuck, his university makes him do exaaaaaaaams whereas mine doesn't, as mine is more performance/essay based grading. I had to do an exam last year, it was awful. Still got an A though, that's right bitches. Anyway, back on track. I don't have to study for a bunch of exams, so whilst he's doing that, yaknow, getting a proper education n' all that, I'll be your new guide! Then, hopefully at then end of this trial period, we'll decide whether or not I'll stay on at this end of it!

So let's get to it then, shall we? Reviewing films and all that jazz, it's why we're all here isn't it! I'm going to start off with the film that was the feature of my screening this week:



Silver Linings Playbook.

There's something about this person's face that just doesn't quite line up.

Silver Linings Playbook! It boasts an impressive cast of Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert DiNiro and Jacki Weaver. It claimed a 7.9 Rating on IMDb and a freshness rating of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes! Nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture! Nominated for four Golden Globe Awards! Jennifer Lawrence certainly cashed in a good few awards thanks to this picture (an Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role and a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy, to name only a couple). So, given the apparent commercial and critical success of this film, it would be logical to assume that it is a good film, right? Wrong.

Let's get first things first, I love dark humour. Love it. I watched this film with the idea of that it was going to be a rom-com, given that that was the genre I was studying this week for my film lectures. More of the rom, less of the com. Like, I was looking for the comedy. Actively searching for a laugh and there were a couple of moments that it felt like a 'ba-dum-dum-chhh!' and I was still waiting on the punchline.

Woah, Jennifer, I'm sorry! This movie was totally watchable!

Let's start with a plot summary:

After a stint in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife. Things get more challenging when Pat meets Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own.

I feel like I've set myself up for disagreements with people by choosing a film that's generated a bit of a divide and a bit of controversy. But hey ho! Let's discuss why I didn't like it, shall we?

Oh boy, this would have been a very different film.

I had to take a good long think about what it was in particular that made me feel somewhat subtly uncomfortable throughout this film and it wasn't until my lecturer posed this question that it all seemed to click - Are we supposed to be laughing with the characters, or at the characters? Of course we're meant to be laughing at the characters, it's a comedy and as an audience we are expected to laugh at the silly actions of the characters. But the actions of the characters are more or less all driven by their mental illnesses (they don't have a lot of personality separate from their conditions, so, yay for character development!) and I realised that this film is trying to make me laugh at these characters with mental health problems. It also felt like rather than being treated as actual, real life mental health issues, the characters were more portrayed as 'kooky and quirky' - something that would have worked better with the cast director David O'Russel initially wanted for this film. But even then, writing off mental illness as a quirky personality trait? Not cool. As someone who has a lot of personal experience with people with mental health problems, this was strike number one against the film. There were a few funny moments (I think I gently exhaled out my nose a couple of times) but they are so few and far between to be any kind of a redeeming factor.

Also there seems to be a super anti-medication message that bleeds through the characters actions and dialogue. At the end of the film, I got the feeling that this film was trying to push the message that a person can overcome their mental illnesses through sheer force of will and by a being in a relationship (and drawing happiness from said relationship) rather than medication (which I suppose is true for some people, I don't know the case studies of every single mental health patient!) which felt kind of weird.

Run, run away from bad reviews!

I just learned how to put .gifs into blog posts, so sorry if I bombard you with magical moving images.
  

Okay, I'm done with talking about mental health things (a phrase i've now said seven times, I'm sure you'll all be jumping for joy!). Next up, the plot. The plot really annoyed me, I felt like it treated its audience like they were all idiots. There was a scene where Pat (Coopers character) is talking about his past and it came across as the most awkward segue into showing Pat's back story. Like, he's talking in a manner that would suggest he hasn't met the person he is talking to, but in reality, he is talking to someone who knows him very well and knows the details that he is discussing, so there is no way that he would (in explicit detail) explain an important event in his life in such a way. It just made me super aware that I was watching a film, with actors and a script writer and director and camera crew etc. rather than a fly on the wall of someone's life, because I could envision the meeting between all the creatives, sitting around a table with cold cups of coffee and stale pizza, heads in hands, exclaiming, "how are we going to show this guys backstory?!" and then someone says, "let's have him explain it in detail to the audience!" and then the slow clap would happen and creative #2 would get a promotion and dental care. Also, the main tension towards the end of the film was totally contrived and I straight up didn't care. Like, even kind of. It revolves around a bet and there wasn't even one second where I thought it wasn't going to work out. The plot is so predictable that it angers me. Every "twist" and "turn", I predicted long before it happened. 

Sweet pep talk brah.

Okay, wee Cooper may be right, I've shat over this film enough, now for some of the more positive notes.

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Last gif, I promise.

That was mean. There were a few moments of the film that I did genuinely enjoy. Okay, one moment of the film. The dance sequence at the end of the film is really sweet and brought a smile to my face. That's more or less it. Oops.

Let's wrap it up there, shall we folks?

Hopefully you guys didn't hate my review and I'll see you guys next week if you haven't already sharpened your pitchforks!