Dolly Mopping (29 January 2013)
Jennifer Lawrence is one magnificent slut. Her performance in Silver Linings is a tour de force. She nails it. Not since Jennifer Jason Lee in Last Exit to Brooklyn has a trashy trollop been played so convincingly. She easily deserves to win the Oscar for best actress and for any other category the film might win since she is the reason it's in the running at all. It's not easy being a slut. And harder still garnering sympathy for one. We can never be certain if her salacious wonts are biological or self-imposed. The grand old whore is a whole lot more desirable. She is typically forced into a her predicament for money or by male coercion. She's portrayed as a victim and tattooed with a heart of gold. But the nymphomaniac is a sadder sort. She's not as fetching or sentimental. Why should we care about her? It's clear that she either can't get enough carnal pleasure for herself or desperately seeks endless attention from men. Pathetic, is it not? But Lawrence absorbs the role and literally runs with it. Perhaps even re-writing the Dolly-Mop playbook. This movie will be required viewing for budding psychologists. And while Bradley Cooper does an impressive job bouncing the the bi-polar ball, we know he's acting. Fine work Mr. Cooper, no one else could have done it better, maybe. But down the street a few blocks, we entirely lose ourselves in Ms Lawrence. She deftly out-performs them all. Daniel Day Lincoln has to be relieved that there is a gender divide in the acting awards categories. Lawrence is so adept at playing the unapologetic slut that we suspect she's not acting. That she's spilling her guts. Revealing all the sores and warts of her true self. And this is what makes her so great in the movie.