When I typically partake in a movie double feature — like I did Sunday — I vary the genre. A comedy paired with a thriller. A romance with a drama. A documentary followed by a sci-fi.
But yesterday?
I double downed on romance. Figured these two particular films were so completely different, they couldn’t possibly overlap.
Shows what I know.
Silver Linings Playbook is a wonderful film starring Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Robert DeNiro. Lawrence and Cooper are crazy — as in, he just got out of the hospital and she probably needs one — and end up being just what the doctor ordered for each other. DeNiro is also crazy.
Pretty much all of us are a little crazy, right? That’s why this movie works. It’s funny and it’s real and it manages to work in a reference to Dancing with the Stars….how can it miss?
Imagine how surprised I was to find Anna Karenina much the same.
Clearly the costumes are much better. (Cooper wore a garbage bag for much of Playbook.) And director Joe Wright placed his actors on an actual stage for many scenes, which I found brilliant but distracting.
But Anna and her oh-so-good-looking lover are indeed crazy. Most of the people in the story are varying shades of crazy, too. And there is a long scene of ballroom dancing that is also integral to the storyline.
But alas, no silver lining.
Acting normal
Jennifer Lawrence and Anne Hathaway — you’re Oscar winners!
But whereas the world loves Jennifer, most folks find Anne just…so annoying.
What gives?
Both are talented actresses. Both gave Oscar-worthy performances this year — Jennifer in Silver Linings Playbook and Anne in Les Miserables. And both are attractive and smart.
But of the two, only Jennifer appears comfortable enough to stop acting…to be herself on the awards show stage. So her speeches — and even her trip up the Oscar stairs — appear to be authentic expressions of emotion.
Not badly acted attempts at sincerity.
So stop it, Anne…or we’re taking all the shiny trophies back.
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Posted in Academy Awards, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Movies
Tagged Academy Awards, acting, actors, actresses, Anne Hathaway, awards acceptance speech, awards show, commentary, Humor, Jennifer Lawrence, Les Miserables, life, Oscar-worthy performances, Oscars, Silver Linings Playbook