The review below very nearly put me off seeing the film... Well, I'm very glad I listened to my better instincts and went anyway: this is the clever, funny and moving story of two inadequate people - sensitive, bipolar Pat, played by Bradley Cooper, and 'that slut Tiffany' (Jennifer Lawrence) - who set out to help each other and, in their own clumsy, slightly 'off' way, try to forge a relationship.

I suppose this would be classified as a romcom, but the characters are ten times more human and realistic than in most Hollywood productions of the genre: this is not the story of Mr Perfect Generic Alpha Male meets Miss Generic Bachelorette. The pacing is right, the acting excellent, and there are some genuinely funny moments. The end of course is predictable (what romcom isn't?), but the difference here is that you really care about the characters and are interested to see how they're going to get there.

Silver Linings Playbook was the ‘Surprise Film’ at this year’s London Film Festival, and a thoroughly nasty one it was for me. Comfortably the least enjoyable time I have had in a cinema this year, it’s a loud and hopelessly contrived endurance test, and I was chewing my fist wishing for it to end. Admittedly I am not in the target audience for romcoms, but I’m still baffled that so many critics seem to have fallen for this one. Jennifer Lawrence is even being touted for an Oscar, although to me she just seems to be impersonating Juliette Lewis circa Natural Born Killers.

If this is a superior example of the genre, save me from the mediocre. Unless you are so smitten with one of the leads that you could watch them read the phonebook, preserve your sanity and stay away.