Script Review: #101 Silver Linings Playbook (2012) | WGA 101 Greatest Scripts of the 21st Century
A romantic drama that is simultaneously charming and candid in its honest portrayal about coping with mental illness.
Logline: 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.
Written by: David O. Russell
Based on: The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
Pages: 152
Silver Linings Playbook strikes a delicate balance between drama and comedy, finding humor in absurdly serious situations and lending weight to its absurd moments to prevent it from turning it into a sitcom. It takes a disarmingly candid approach to showing how mental illness can impact the patient and everyone around them, but does so without feeling cheap or heavy-handed. And somewhere along the way, two characters struggling with their mental health find love.
The script is written by David O. Russell, based on the novel of the same name by Matthew Quick. It was originally written for Sydney Pollack to direct, going through over 20 rewrites before David O. Russell made it himself. It is the sweetest script he has ever written in his career, possibly owing to its origins as a novel. After spending eight months in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife, Nikki, but when Pat meets Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own, his life takes an unexpected direction.
There are two plot threads in the script. The main plot (or A-story) is about Pat’s attempts to win back his estranged wife who cheated on him, aided by Tiffany. Tiffany is a young widow who lost her husband, a police officer, and her job. She agrees to help Pat covertly get a letter across to his wife but in exchange, he has to be her partner for a dance competition, which serves as the script’s climax.
The secondary plot (or B-story) focuses on the struggles of Pat’s parents, namely his father, Pat Sr. Having lost his own job, Pat Sr. is making money betting on football games to raise the capital he needs to open a restaurant. He also tries to spend more time with his younger son, feeling guilty about neglecting Pat Jr. when the boy was growing up in favor of his older and more successful brother. The script’s climax revolves around a “parlay” made between Pat Sr. and his neighbor, Randy, to recover a bet that Pat Sr. lost—Randy will pay double if Pat Sr.’s team, the Philadelphia Eagles, win, and if Pat and Tiffany score a 5 out of 10 at the dance competition. The A-story and B-story converge by the end of Act Two with the climaxes overlapping as well as Tiffany entering the lives of the rest of the Solitano family, neatly falling into place like the pieces of a puzzle.
Pat is the lead protagonist but the most fascinating character undoubtedly is Tiffany. His character has no filter, leaving room open for more humor as Pat blurts out what’s on his mind even if they are inappropriate. Tiffany is equally blunt, not hesitating to express her anger while also using it as a shield against her vulnerability. But Russell doesn’t neglect the supporting cast, including Pat Sr. and Dolores Solitano. There’s also Pat’s friend, Ronnie, and his wife Veronica (who is friends with Nikki and the elder sister of Tiffany). Another character, Danny, pops up briefly in a humorous gag where he keeps trying to leave the institution without proper authorization, and there’s also Pat’s empathetic therapist, Dr. Patel. Russell succeeds in making them feel like real people by assigning each one with real concerns and struggles:
Dolores- she worries that her son will be taken away and re-institutionalized if he doesn’t behave or respect the restraining order;
Pat Sr.- he cannot afford to lose the money he is betting money and struggles to get Pat to spend more time with him;
Ronnie- he feels under pressure despite his outward success and is ready to quit his marriage;
Nikki- although she is mostly mentioned and isn’t given much to do, it is hinted that she cheated on Pat because she wanted to be loved and couldn’t continue dealing with his mood swings and his inability to take care of himself.
As a result, everyone gets a scene to shine, whether it’s to deliver laughs, a dramatic moment, or both.
The setting plays an equally large role in the script. It is set in Philadelphia, and Russell brings the location to life and turn it into its own character by having Pat and Randy discuss sports, especially the Philadelphia Eagles, as well as notable figures such as Ben Franklin. In another scene, Pat turns up to dinner wearing a DeSean Jackson jersey (DeSean Jackson was drafted into the Eagles in 2008 as a wide receiver). These touches help to create authenticity and inform the reader about the characters and environment they operate in.
The writing style in Silver Linings Playbook is unusual. Russell fluctuates between writing his action lines in uppercase and normal case without intention. Since he is directing the script, he has inserted plenty of camera directions; it helps to direct the reader’s eye and visualize the scene, but in some circles, new writers are cautioned against doing this. Russell also indicates song choices to help understand where the scene emotion is at (the use of The White Stripes “Hello Operator”), but it is advisable not to do this if you are trying to sell the script since you don’t have the rights.
His action lines are sparse, rarely going beyond two lines, which makes it easy to scan, but his dialogue runs for pages. Similar to scripts by Aaron Sorkin and Quentin Tarantino, the resulting screenplay adds up to 152 pages (note: the final film clocks in at 122 minutes). However, if not for the reams of dialogue, it adheres to the 120-page rule-of-thumb structure.
If you are writing a dialogue-heavy script, this is critical to remember (better yet, lose the dialogue unless you have a true gift for dialogue). Even though it’s a romantic drama, the third act is structured like a battle scene where it all leads up to a big climax (the parlay and the dance), achieving a similar emotional catharsis as an action movie.
Russell chose the novel by Matthew Quick because he connected with the material. His son suffers from bi-polarity and Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), similar to Pat, and he could empathize with the situation for both the patient and the people around. This is vital because mental illness is a tough subject to write about. The theme of Silver Linings Playbook, however, is actually optimistic, and is summed up by Pat’s determination to find the silver lining in all the negativity. Although he didn’t appreciate his family as much when the script starts, by the end, he has chosen to do so. Having the protagonist explicitly state the theme might be on-the-nose but if you can find a way to do so naturally, it will help your reader instantly understand what they are reading.
This is a script written by someone who has a good ear for dialogue. It often feels like a throwback to screwball comedies made in the 1930s by Frank Capra or Howard Hawks, or the kind of picture that Billy Wilder might have made. Moreover, Russell manages to fit this story in the structure of a Hollywood feature but doesn’t sacrifice its material to make it a feel-good Hollywood romantic drama. In doing so, the story can be accessible to a wider audience than if it was made for an indie audience.
To this day, it remains a bracing examination of how bipolar disorder can upturn a family’s life. By focusing on what it’s like to deal with such a condition (a good instance of show don’t tell), it avoids turning into a lecture about mental illness.
The script is deeply empathetic about its messy leads- Pat’s prior actions cost him is teaching job and will make it difficult to find employment (he spends the entire story unemployed); similarly, Tiffany also recently lost her job due to being stigmatized as unstable and her prior actions resulting in her being fired. Russell doesn’t sand down these rough edges or make them “quirky” in favor of abandoning their less-than-appealing natures— he portrays them as human beings with redeeming qualities, but they are also difficult to be around to the point of being insufferable through no fault of their own. Mental illness can do that.
There’s nothing quite like Silver Linings Playbook anywhere else and that makes this script a rare beast. For those seeking to write a different kind of romantic drama, Silver Linings Playbook shows the path on how to write it.