So my new year's wish is that for X, actors
substitute Greta Gerwig, who made sure, in Lady Bird, that even characters as peripheral to the action as Stephen McKinley Henderson's mournful high school
drama teacher felt like full human beings who could have wandered in from, or off to, their own movies.
As disgraced former
substitute teacher Pat (Bradley Cooper) attempts to piece his life together in the wake of a mental breakdown, «Silver Linings Playbook» smartly engages with his legitimate
dramas while infusing them with an upbeat spirit akin to the inspiration he seeks.