I didn't want to see the same old repeats that the networks put on Friday nights so I went searching.

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK is last years hidden gem of a movie.

A really spectacular story that is acted superbly by the cast.

The story is a romance about a Manic-Depressive man who is returning to his family with a restraining order from his wife and court ordered therapy. The romantic interest is the equally screwed up girl who understands how to get this fellow back on his two feet. She's got her problems.

And something that no one admits, most of these families are made up of dysfunctional people, some more dysfunctional than others but sometime, it all works out for the best and there is a silver lining to it all...

Excellent movie. I became a big Jennifer Lawrence fan after seeing her in Winter's Bone but she just shined in Silver Linings Playbook. Good choice for a Friday night, Dave.

A number of years back I acted as an advisor (one of many advisors) to a group that sponsored high school kids and had them build robots to play games. I did it because they involved disabled kids. A few times rather than physical disabilities we had kids with mental disabilities. It was fascinating and actually instructive (a lousy word) to get used to those kids alone every week and then for the trips meet their families. Some of their behavior that I could perceive as due to the mental disability was duplicated in their families (parents and siblings). It's one thing to have a kid with problems around for a few hours at night and on Saturday mornings. It is altogether different to travel 24/7 with them. Families always provided chaperones for trips. But that was when you could see family dynamics like you see in this movie.

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK shows that so well. Here's the main character who is manic/depressive and can be triggered to violence going home to a father who a compulsive gambler and has been banned from the football games for fighting. his family and friends have a complete inability to filter their mouths and behave a bit better than mere fools when he's around. There's one Girl that "gets" it.

That group also met at one of the larger Veterans Centers and the kids were told that some of the Vets were medicated for good reasons and that when they met those guys to be cognizant (and yes we used the big words, these were good kids who understood such matters).