The Big Picture

  • Silver Linings Playbook is a different kind of football movie that focuses on how football affects its fans rather than the players or the actual games.
  • The film highlights the importance of community in football and how the sport serves as a social gathering for fans to connect and bond with each other.
  • Football is used as symbolism in the movie, with the character Pat Jr. being compared to DeSean Jackson and embracing the idea of celebrating his own victories in life.

Sports movies have been a staple of entertainment for decades at this point. They combine all the best parts of watching sports and watching a movie, with the intensity of actual games being magnified by character drama and dynamic camera movements. Most of the time these movies follow a specific player or season to tell the most contained and captivating story possible. You may have noticed that the number of films about American football is much smaller than those about other sports, like baseball and basketball. Filmmakers like Aaron Sorkin and Gina Prince-Bythewood have already shown what makes those other sports such an excellent subject in film. That’s because those games offer filmmakers a bit more in cinematic portrayals. Unlike those other sports, football players are in much closer contact with each other for longer stretches of time, and they wear helmets that obscure their faces. This doesn’t just limit where there’s physical space to put a camera to get more dynamic shots during a game, but the helmets prevent the audience from seeing the facial expressions of the actors to give game scenes heavier emotional weight.

But the Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence rom-com, Silver Linings Playbook, aims to be a different kind of football movie. The film uses football in about every way it can, while never showing any actual games. Instead of being a football movie about the players, it's about how football affects its fans and uses the sport as a constant metaphor that reflects the story.

What Is 'Silver Linings Playbook' About?

Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper) walks down a street in Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
Image via The Weinstein Company

Before going into why football is so important to this film, it’s important to know what it’s about. The film follows Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper) after having a manic episode triggered by his wife cheating on him. After nearly beating the man she was sleeping with to death, Pat is ordered by the court to stay in a psychiatric ward. After a few months, he is checked out of the institution and ultimately ends up moving back in with his parents, Dolores and Pat Sr. (Jacki Weaver and Robert De Niro). The whole ordeal leads to Pat being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a mental disorder that is defined by switching between episodes of intense mania and intense depression.

While trying to get his life back together, Pat meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) who helps him find structure and meaning in his life again. Along with his relationship with Tiffany, he also mends his relationships with his immediate family, starts actually taking his meds, and is able to shed some of his unhealthy obsessions.

'Silver Linings Playbook' Is a Different Kind of Football Movie

Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper as Tiffany and Pat standing side by side and smiling in Silver Linings Playbook.
Image Via United International Pictures

The first aspect the movie gets right about football is how important community is to the sport. Unlike other fandoms and hobbies, sports fans have the benefit of regular structured events that are intended as social gatherings. This is true whether the games are being viewed at the actual stadium, arena, or field, or at home watching on TV. This is a stark contrast to interests like film where the activity is centered around watching a screen while you’re alone, or you watch it in a room with others, but everyone is quiet. Meanwhile, football is riddled with downtime during games that offer fans a moment to talk about the game as it’s happening with friends, the sport is structured around socializing. This vibe is encouraged through other game day traditions that people follow, like tailgating. The movie highlights this aspect through the 2nd act of the film by having Pat go tailgating which serves as a time for him to reconnect with his brother and best friend.

While there, he also runs into his therapist, Dr. Patel (Anupam Kher). This is one of the key points in the movie, because early in the film Pat didn’t exactly trust Dr. Patel since his therapy was mandated by the court. But after bonding a bit over their shared love of the Eagles in their appointments, Pat finally sees his therapist as a person instead of a controlling authority figure. All through the power of fandom. The tailgate scene also shows the toxic side of fandoms when racist fans start attacking Dr. Patel, which results in the entire party being sent back home to Pat’s parents. Pat’s parents just seem to be the authority figures for everyone. But even their lives are defined by football.

The Two Pats

Robert De Niro Jacki Weaver Bradley Cooper Silver Linings Playbook
Image via The Weinstein Company

Through this journey, Pat’s life is told in parallel with the 2008 season of the Philadelphia Eagles. Pat, Sr. is a devoted Eagles fan, making most of his money with under-the-table bets on games. He is also sort of neurotic in similar ways to Pat. He has very specific game day rituals on Sundays that cause a great sense of paranoia in him if they aren’t followed. This ranges between remotes having to be in certain places, or people needing to stay where they’re sitting if the Eagles were doing well. With De Niro’s OCD tendencies being fueled by football, the sport is also how he relates back to his life and his family. Football Sunday is one of the few family traditions that seems to remain constant in the family.

Pat, Jr. bookends the film by narrating why Sundays were his favorite days of the week. In both instances, he talks about how it’s because of his family. He knows that the sport is how his parents show love and express themselves. So even though it’s often frustrating for him to deal with his father’s rituals, he still enjoys it as a time for his family to come together.

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There’s a really telling scene about this in the film where Pat, Sr. talks to his son about this. After having several valid issues with each other, he admits that the reason he wants his family together on Sundays isn’t just because of his superstitions that it makes the Eagles play better. It’s because that’s how he shows his love to the family, by sharing what he loves with them. He seems to not even know how to show love if it isn't through the lens of the game. Is there a moment in any movie that is more “dad” than that? Maybe the ending of Field of Dreams, but that’s about it.

“DeSean Jackson Is The Man”

Jennifer Larence and Bradley Cooper as Tiffany and Pat talking in Silver Lining Playbook.
Image via United International Pictures

The other way this movie embodies football is that it uses the sport as symbolism. Throughout the film, Pat, Jr. is constantly compared to the player DeSean Jackson. Pat, Sr. specifically makes the comparison because he views Jackson as someone who ruins entire plays by celebrating his victories before he makes it to the end zone. He believes this is how Pat, Jr. treats his entire life. But Pat, Jr. embraces it after being reassured by his best friend and therapist that “DeSean Jackson is the man”. He wears his jersey with pride. Eventually, he wins over his family by showing them that he isn’t celebrating victories prematurely, he would just rather celebrate and recognize how far he’s come rather than whatever is perceived as success by other people.

The entire cast functions like a football team. They work together, they plan around each other, they know each other’s weaknesses and strengths, and use that knowledge to support each other in every life event. Tiffany even points out that the family’s highs and lows throughout the film mirror the wins and losses of the Eagles that season. The family and the team are inseparable in nearly every way.

“Sunday’s My Favorite Day Again”

Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence in 'Silver Lining's Playbook'
Image via The Weinstein Company

What ultimately makes Silver Linings Playbook a football movie is that it embodies the traditions and feelings around the game rather than the sport itself. It makes the movie feel so much more realistic and personal. Especially as an audience member, it makes it easier to relate to. The film embodies feelings of nostalgia of our own family’s weird and specific traditions around the sport. While some people can identify with being a professional player in the NFL in other sports movies, many more will identify with the superstitious and cozy feeling of your parents telling you not to sit in their favorite spot on the couch, or it’ll somehow mess with their favorite teams winning streak.