What you can learn by watching scenes of running in movies

"Silver Linings Playbook" could have been a really good movie, but it takes so many wrong turns and it misses so many opportunities that both M and I found it extremely discouraging and disappointing. The first half-hour is quite good, if a bit over-acted and overly scripted: Pat, a 20ish guy from a working-class Philly neighborhood (or suburb) gets sprung from a state hospital where he'd been confined by court order because of some incident, which we learn more about later. We soon see that he (and his friend, another "inmate" whom he springs for a short time) is severely disturbed and troubled - later learn he's diagnosed as bipolar, which seems accurate. There are some terrific scenes early on of his bizarre interaction with his hapless parents who clearly love him abut have no idea how to help him, and some very edgy scenes as her stalks his estranged wife: that's the main dynamic of the movie, he, Pat (Bradley Cooper) wants to get back with her, or so he thinks. At first this seemed to me like the male and working-class version of the excellent Rachel's Getting Married. But the filmmaker (David O. Russell) then starts to build up the plot dynamics and, for me, the movie takes all kinds of wrong turns: becomes a very familiar offbeat guy meets kooky girl (Jennifer Lawrence, who's great in this role) and he slowly gets better through the love of a good woman. We also have the cliches of the family drawn together by sports, of preparing for the big dance competition, and so many other familiar movie tropes - none handled well. I nother words, the characters are adults and they have adult problems and issues - unemployment, rap sheets, medical issues, sudden and tragic death of a loved one, broken marriages - but they behave like teenagers, like refugees from Stomp or Glee. For example, the dad, who has OCD (Pat Sr., Robert De Niro, who's supposed to be an Oscar contender for this part - what a shame, he needs a great dramatic role not this lightweight comedy) is supposed to be a small-time bookie; no bookie sits around with the family cheering for the Eagles the way De Niro does, good wholesome American fun loving family making a little book on the side. Not likely. Or the dance competition: it's just never clear why or how two rank amateurs like these guys would or could enter. And many other scenes: there seems to be only one cop at work, for example, in the entire city of Philadelphia. I use as a touchstone for movies that get the details wrong scenes of running - actually one of the least realistic elements in hundreds of films, with totally out of shape characters chasing one another endlessly. In this one, Pat Jr. runs in a sweatsuit and a garbage bag over the suit - nobody does that - and he and Jennifer L. have many long dialogues as they're prancing along on the oddly car-free streets of their neighborhood. These seem like quibbles, but it shows me that the filmmakers had an idea for a main character who could make a comedy interesting but the comedy itself was entirely shopworn. I didn't buy.