This starts out promisingly enough. Bradley Cooper plays Pat Solatano, a man who is just about to be released from an involuntary stay in a mental health facility. When he starts tearing a doctor’s office apart to stop a song that he keeps hearing in his head, he goes from being an eccentric weirdo to someone you want to stay as far away from as possible. Then you learn that he nearly beat a man for death for having an affair with his wife, insists on not taking his medication, obsessively keeps trying to meet with his wife in spite of a restraining order and generally makes life hell for the parents he stays with. Sure, you think, it looks like his relationship with his wife is fucked, but at least Silver Linings Playbook is shaping out to be a decent film that takes mental illnesses seriously.

But then Jennifer Lawrence’s Tiffany Maxwell enters the picture. Apparently her police officer husband died recently and she had a mental breakdown in response. This entailed having sex with many random people, leading to her losing her job and understandably all manner of other problems, as she recounts. Pat is simultaneously horrified, sympathetic and even fascinated. “Even with the women?” he asks hesitantly. With a twinkle in her eye and knowing exactly what he wants to hear, Tiffany goes on to describe the titillating details of the sexual encounter. So much for tackling mental illnesses seriously.

There are plenty of other warning signs of course, not the least of which is that Tiffany is practically a walking embodiment of male wish fulfillment. She seems to fall for Pat for no reason other than that they are both neurotic. Both of them look amazingly fit and well-groomed, which of course makes perfect sense for crazy people who can’t take care of themselves. Naturally Tiffany is also 1000% hotter than Pat’s wife, played by a no-name actress who gets almost zero screentime despite being the object of his obsession for most of the film. The clincher is that Tiffany even turns out to be something of an expert in football history, winning over Pat’s father, played by Robert De Niro, at just the right moment. Silver lining? It looks like Pat just hit the jackpot!

Yet blatant as they are, it is surprisingly difficult to notice these warnings. Mostly it is because Jennifer Lawrence is so naturally charismatic that it’s hard to avoid buying into the fiction. She’s just such an ideal dreamgirl. But everyone else is likable and competent too. I was especially surprised to see Chris Tucker in this. This is apparently his first film role since his Rush Hour days with Jackie Chan and it’s actually a good role for him. The dialogue, especially between Cooper and Lawrence, has a nice pop to it that makes it entertaining. I hate how much of a cheap shot the “dead husband” joke is but I can’t deny that it’s funny.

But even the most dedicated of Jennifer Lawrence fans must admit that when the dance competition rolls around, the film pretty much drops any pretence at being a serious drama. Any symptoms of mental illnesses are also conveniently forgotten at around this point. It’s just a bog standard Hollywood rom-com from this point forward. I feel embarrassed on behalf of the Academy Awards that this received nominations in eight categories including Best Picture and Best Director. Apparently invoking mental disease in the most superficial of ways in sufficient to trick most of Hollywood into believing that you have made a good film.

For my part, between the solid performances and the promising set up, I declare Silver Linings Playbook to be fully one-half of a good movie.