Silver Linings Playbook Trailer: Young Loonies In Love

Crazy people, they're just like us! Sure, we may not hurl copies of A Farewell To Arms through closed windows or live with our parents at age 37 (if the Wikipedia entry on Bradley Cooper is to be believed) but as far as the trials and triumphs of burgeoning love are concerned, David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook looks like a standard rom com on prescription meds.

One would think that Russell would cash in his chips after the Awards-scooping The Fighter and serve up something that defies category like I Heart Huckabees or his uncompleted feature Nailed, but my guess is since Russell has seen the interior of director's jail he has no intention of going back.

Silver Linings Playbook, despite the mouthful of a title, looks like a strong, albeit conventional flick. Count me as one of many eager to see Jennifer Lawrence play an adult (and, no, I don't mean “adult” in any euphemistic way.) Plus this looks like an appropriate use of Bradley Cooper's bordering-on-manic charm. The November 21 release of SLP couldn't be better timed, as it will wipe his slate clean after September's soporific Sundance dud The Words.

From these few clips here it seems like the relationships sparkle, and even the paycheck-happy Robert De Niro looks like he's going to bring some spin to the potentially sitcom-ish weary Dad.

The other big surprise in the trailer is the appearance of a guy who may look familiar to you. You may need to hit pause. Is that...? Yes, it is! It's Chris Tucker. You know, that comic actor who seemed like a rising star in the 1990s until he decided that prepping for the next Rush Hour movie took LOTS AND LOTS of research.

Watching nut-cases fall in love has long been a pleasure (David and Lisa, As Good As It Gets, my cousin and that kleptomaniac she married) so Silver Linings Playbook seems ready to scratch that itch. Plus, it doesn't look too preachy. The family scenes, mere flashes in this trailer, tease some of that “gotta love 'em” positivity that made The Fighter such a standout.

Verdict: Nothing revolutionary, but neither was The Fighter, and that turned out great. Gonna' watch this one closer than the usual rom com.

Silver Linings Playbook hits theaters November 21. There's still time to change the title.