In the movie we follow Patrick (Bradley Cooper), who has recently been released from a mental institution after he nearly beat his wife's lover to death. Pat is dealing with bi-polar disorder and is left in the care of his parents, Pat Sr. (De Niro) and Dolores (Weaver), who are having a difficult time dealing with his troubles. Pat Jr's sole mission is to be reunited with his ex-wife and he is trying to better himself both mentally and physically to potentially win her back. He then meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), one of his wife's friends, who is going through a tough time in her life after her husband dies and she loses her job. She is in the same boat as Pat Jr, she lives with her parents and everyone views her as a train wreck. Pat Jr and Tiffany soon come together to try and "fix" each other.
This is the best acted movie of the year, hands down. There is almost no other movie that is in the same ballpark when it comes to the combo of both leading roles and supporting roles. Bradley Cooper has shown flashes of greatness but this is the movie where he finally outshines everyone. You can see the repressed anger in almost every scene that he is in and the pure joy in his his scenes with Jennifer Lawrence. His character has an unyielding hope that he will have a happy ending and Cooper has to portray that in every scene no matter what. Jennifer Lawrence continues her utter domination of 2012, with her best performance to date. With each movie she is in she keeps getting better and better with the exception of that piece of shit horror movie she slummed it in over the summer. She also happens to be a complete smoke show and is so in every single scene she is in. She could make a movie about farting in people's dinner and I would probably watch it.
De Niro and Weaver show up to lend their considerable talents and they do not disappoint. De Niro is especially great in this movie and it kind of lets you forget that he has been acting in pieces of shit for the better part of a decade. Jacki Weaver is new to American audiences but she is a fantastic actress and you owe it to yourself to check out Animal Kingdom to see her just flat out dominate and control a movie. It is also worth noting that Chris Tucker is in this movie, and it probably his first acting role since the last Rush Hour. The surprising thing to me is that he is not annoying in this movie at all and most people would barely recognize that it is him because he brings none of his shitty tendencies from the Rush Hour movies to this one.
David O'Russell also deserves some notice because the man knows how to tug at the heartstrings of his audience. He gets you so fully invested into these characters that you never want to see anything bad happen to them and that is the sign of a great director. He did it with Three Kings and The Fighter, and this movie follows suit and it outshines both of those movies in almost every aspect.
This is one of the best movies of 2012 and truly deserves all of the praise that it is currently getting. The combo of Cooper and Lawrence was a great casting choice and it payed off with both being nominated for major film awards. Check this out in theaters, download it, or wait until it comes out on Blu Ray/DVD. Either way, just give yourself the opportunity to see this incredible movie. Also, Jennifer Lawrence = Smoke Show.
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