Silver Linings Playbook (IMDB) is one of those romantic comedies where the characters are crazy and they have lots of misunderstandings but they muddle through to a heartwarming ending. However in this case “crazy” means “diagnosed mental illness” which gives the humor a rather dark edge. Still it is quite well done, with good performances and a script that is neither patronizing nor absurdly unrealistic. On balance it is pretty entertaining.

The hero Pat Solatano (Bradley Cooper) suffers from bipolar disorder. He handled the breakup of his marriage very badly and as the result of a plea bargain has spent the last eight months in a mental hospital. He still has problems starting with the fact that he won’t take his meds. Nevertheless his optimistic mother (Jacki Weaver) checks him out and takes him home. The first thing he does to repay her trust is to try to smuggle out his buddy (Chris Tucker) who appears to be a charming sociopath.

Pat’s OCD-afflicted father (Robert De Niro) greets him sceptically but is too wrapped up in his own obsessions to object too much. Still it looks like Pat will probably be sent back to the hospital in short order, especially given his determination to win back his ex-wife in spite of the restraining order.

But fate takes a different turn when Pat is invited to dinner by his best friend Ronnie (John Ortiz). (Ronnie seems fairly normal but his marriage is clearly under stress.) At the dinner are Ronnie’s wife Veronica (Julia Stiles) who is a jerk, and her sister Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) who also suffers from bipolar disorder and has had a really rough time of it lately.

Tiffany immediately takes a shine to Pat, but he is still obsessed with his ex-wife and rejects her rather rudely. Tiffany however is smart, determined and not easily discouraged.

Much of the business in the move (as well as the title) comes from the fact that all of the characters are fanatical devotees of the Philadelphia Eagles. (Except for Tiffany who doesn’t like football.)

It’s pretty much a requirement for a romantic comedy to have an ending that stretches credulity and with characters like these this movie is treading on particularly thin ice. Under the circumstances they manage to pull it off surprisingly well.