Let me finish tonight with this.
America, at its best, roots for the underdog. It’s the thing we like about watching on Oscar night. We love it when the little movie wins the big prize.
I know that Lincoln is the big movie of last year. It’s about our favorite president played by one of our greatest actors, Daniel Day Lewis, and directed by the great Steven Spielberg who gave his Jaws and Indiana Jones and Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan. But I’m rooting for Silver Linings Playbook to win.
I love this movie. I love it because it’s about real people—people from down the street, people with problems: the widow of a policeman shot in the line of duty, a dad who’s been laid off, a young man suffering from a challenging illness, a mother who refuses to be downbeat. It’s about a family held together by being a family.
I’m for this look in my country: people who refuse to give up, families that refuse to give up on each other.
If you’ve given up on going to the movies and don’t go any more, go to this one. It’ll remind you not of the way movies used to be, but that American movies can be truly great
Chris Matthews