It’s rare you pay a handsome amount of money to see a worthwhile movie anymore. Especially in this economy. Especially in this barren selection of recycled movie plots.

Last night, I went out with some friends to finally watch “ Silver Linings Playbook”, a sleeper hit that weaves together an enriching plot of sports fandamonium counter balancing with family bondage and the motivation to move on from rough personal circumstances.

The main character Pat Solitano (played by The Hangover’s Bradley Cooper) tussles with personal demons and a waning case of bi-polar while leaving a psychiatric hospital located in Baltimore to return home in Philadelphia with his loving parents, Pat Sr. and Dolores.

Pat’s lost contact of his wife Nikki, lost his job as a high school History teacher, and lost his own home. It’s a formula for a movie always worth overcoming. Pat sets out on morning jogs with a trash bag over his hoodie to exercise his mental strength while visiting a psychiatrist that tests his will to brush past a Stevie Wonder song played at his wedding. Pat loses all control when he’s forced into the familiar—which is recurring thoughts of his English teacher wife cheating on him with a fellow teacher…all while the Stevie Wonder song plays.

Pat’s simple home—decorated in Philadelphia Eagles memorabilia, can’t cure him of his troubles. Everything changes when he’s invited to a friend’s dinner, where he meets the quiet, yet scarred widow named Tiffany (played by The Hunger Games’ Jennifer Lawrence).  She couldn’t give a damn about football, but she aims to assist Pat with his sick obsession of Nikki by making him ballroom dance for a competition.

Meanwhile, Pat’s father feels disconnected that their Sunday ritual of watching the Eagles’ 2008 NFL season cannot be enjoyed together. I see this as the core to the film’s humble message of seeing past the materials of a sports team, the ‘juju’ of superstition, and past failures (football or non-football related).

Pat’s maintaining his sanity and a balance of family bondage while striking an intriguing friendship with Tiffany. She sends a letter to his distant wife in order to ail his concerns. Pat carries the discrete project back to his house when his father beckons him to attend a big Eagles and New York Giants football game. Pat sacrifices time with Tiffany and ends up in a fight at Lincoln Financial Field for his brother’s safety.

The movies carries along this non-stop pace, where the presence of Philadelphia and sports are backdrops to an outstanding plot that takes you into a climactic evening where Pat’s home life and personal life collide, so to speak.

Philadelphia may not have much to root for these days—especially with the rebuild of the real-life Eagles, but the laughs are aplenty when looking back to 2008 when WR DeSean Jackson was hounded for dropping the ball at the 1-yard-line, when the city’s baseball team, the Phillies, won the World Series, and when the Eagles miraculously stumbled into the 2008 NFL playoffs.