[Rob Babcock]

With a rotten tomatoes score of 90% I must be the only person in America that didn't like it, but I thought it was awful.  I nearly walked out during the fight with his mom & dad and finally did walk out before the dance competition.  First off, the performances are uniformly terrific.  DeNiro is as good as I've seen him in a decade, Jennifer Lawrence is stellar and Cooper shows a side I didn't realize he had.  That said, the movie is so predictable that if you could pause it you'd be able to write the next 10 minutes, again and again.  Every character was just awful- who are you supposed to root for?

I dunno, I guess no movie is all things to everyone but I found this one unbearable.  I look forward to other movies by all the key cast members but I'll never sit thru this one again willingly.

[figcon]

Maybe...Everybody I know that saw it, loved it. Me too.

[Jumpin]

My 2 girls, 12 and 14 did not like it.  I am an Eagles fan, so I liked it, natch.

[Vapor Audio]

Gotta say I'm with Rob, totally predictable 'movie by numbers' ... who cares if actors turn in a solid delivery of a mind-numbing script.  My wife didn't even like it, that's saying a lot!

[steve in jersey]

It's one of those movies whose story line will be seen as relevant or not depending on what age group you are in. Below a certain age many viewers really won't be able to appreciate certain "nuances" of the characters.

If you did'nt grow-up in the Philadelphia / South Jersey area & don't know any local 'sports fanatics' from the area, you might have a hard time believing there are people who are so wrapped up with "the Birds" it becomes the focus of every week during the season . I think this film's appeal is quite different depending upon whether you live in a rural area or near a major sports market city. You also need to be interested in movies about "character studies" as at one point or another some information is given on every character as to why they act as they do in certain situations. It really is'nt a comedy it's a "Dramedy"(with comedic elements)

So, do "youse" get the jist of the movie now ( "youse" is definitely a Philly word ; I could go for a hoagie, a soft pretzel & a Tastykake about now)

[Rob Babcock]

I wasn't bothered by the sports stuff; I know plenty of people that obsessed.  It was the people I couldn't stand.  ********** POTENTIAL SPOILERS! ********* First, am I the only one that thought the only reason the shrink was Indian was to help set up the fight later on at the game?  And really- he tags along home with the patient afterwards?  Am I also the only one annoyed by the implausible fact that Tucker's character just keeps showing up every 25 minutes?  To me it's hard to have a compelling story where all the characters are horrible.  I couldn't root for any of them.  I felt like Cooper's character was one heartbeat away from committing some type of felony at all times.  I stood up and almost walked out when he belted his mom.

I also felt that Cooper and Lawrence, while turning in great performances, had absolutely zero chemistry.  NOTE:  Noticing that a woman in a very low cut dress has a nice rack is not the same as chemistry.  You realize the whole time that since it's a romcom they're going to fall in love, but you think it almost will have to be Tristan-and-Isolde-style with a magic potion, so complete is the lack of chemistry.  Every bit of the clockwork plot is moving towards some deux ex machina ending that will save it from itself.

Mostly I guess it was my reaction more than the movie.  You do have a sense that the family has a lot of love but the fights are really awful.  It reminded me of the most unwatchable parts of Step Brothers, such as the part where one of them has dug a hole in the yard to kill and bury the other.  I can't decide what the film is trying to say.  Is it that mentally ill people can still be funny or that mentally ill people are inherently funny?  The whole sordid mess just lost me.

[steve in jersey]

I wasn't bothered by the sports stuff; I know plenty of people that obsessed.  It was the people I couldn't stand.  ********** POTENTIAL SPOILERS! ********* First, am I the only one that thought the only reason the shrink was Indian was to help set up the fight later on at the game?  And really- he tags along home with the patient afterwards?  Am I also the only one annoyed by the implausible fact that Tucker's character just keeps showing up every 25 minutes?  To me it's hard to have a compelling story where all the characters are horrible.  I couldn't root for any of them.  I felt like Cooper's character was one heartbeat away from committing some type of felony at all times.  I stood up and almost walked out when he belted his mom.

I also felt that Cooper and Lawrence, while turning in great performances, had absolutely zero chemistry.  NOTE:  Noticing that a woman in a very low cut dress has a nice rack is not the same as chemistry.  You realize the whole time that since it's a romcom they're going to fall in love, but you think it almost will have to be Tristan-and-Isolde-style with a magic potion, so complete is the lack of chemistry.  Every bit of the clockwork plot is moving towards some deux ex machina ending that will save it from itself.

Mostly I guess it was my reaction more than the movie.  You do have a sense that the family has a lot of love but the fights are really awful.  It reminded me of the most unwatchable parts of Step Brothers, such as the part where one of them has dug a hole in the yard to kill and bury the other.  I can't decide what the film is trying to say.  Is it that mentally ill people can still be funny or that mentally ill people are inherently funny?  The whole sordid mess just lost me.

The Tucker character & the shrink showing up for the game were there for nothing more than "comedic relief" & were put there as a break from the main characters who all had some sort of character flaw .

As far as chemistry is concerned , while there was none in the beginning ,you could see it building slowly by how it became important to Cooper's character that he re-establish communication with Lawrence's character for self serving purposes at first , but slowly started to realized he liked being with her.

Many of us are lucky enough to not have messed up families. Regardless of whether there are dysfunctional members in a family fights are terrible because everyone expects more from their own family than anyone else(ever hear the saying "we're doing this for your own good" ? ) Family relationships can be complicated.

I would call Cooper's problems "emotional" rather than "mental". I think the laughter has more to do with the uncomfortable situations & words spoken that most of us who are "socially balanced" would never say given everyday circumstances. At least I would hope that people are mature enough not to laugh "at" someone with a problem.

As they say, YMMV (as witnessed by our different reactions to the film)

[mcgsxr]

My wife said it was just OK, so I think there are others who share your opinion. 

I won't be seeing it...

[ajzepp]

Philly is my adopted hometown, and I became completely addicted to the sports culture of the city when I lived there, so I can't wait to see this....but it seems like I have a pretty similar taste in movies as Rob does, so I hope I like it a little more than he did

[ajzepp]

Just finished watching this one...I definitely enjoyed it more than a couple of you guys, BUT, I can totally understand the criticism. It was definitely way too predictable, and I agree that there was little to no chemistry between Cooper and Lawrence. I thought the first half was really good and I loved how they were basically profiling the mental illnesses that the characters were dealing with. But then all of a sudden in the 2nd half of the film it became super cliche and predictable, which took away a lot from my enjoyment. I went from feeling the film was better than Argo during the first half, to wondering how it was even up for consideration as best picture by the end of the second. That being said, overall I would have to say I enjoyed it, it just wasn't anywhere near the level of quality that I expected.