Silver Linings Playbook Trivia Quiz

Answer: Reconcile with his estranged wife, Nikki

Pat had battled delusions, mood swings and "weird thinking brought on by severe stress" all of his life without realizing that he was afflicted with bipolar disorder. When he comes home early from work one day and catches his wife in the shower with a tenured History professor, he suffers a manic breakdown and attacks his wife's lover, almost killing him.

As part of a plea bargain with the courts, Pat agrees to undergo an eight-month stay at a psychiatric facility. When his time is up, he moves into the attic of his parents' house, and is determined to win Nikki back, despite the fact that she has obtained a restraining order against him.

He gets his mother to swing by the library on the way home so that he can read Nikki's entire English syllabus as an "act of love", and he plans to get in shape for Nikki and get his old job back.

He also tells his parents and Tiffany that he and Nikki are still very much in love and that their marriage is going to be "amazing", and doesn't want to listen when his father tries to tell him that Nikki sold the house and isn't around anymore. Pat spends most of the movie in denial about the reality of his situation - that Nikki has moved on with her life, and that he should probably do the same.

Answer: inappropriate; appropriate

Pat is a reasonably smart guy, but he doesn't always appreciate the inappropriate and sometimes offensive things that escape from his mouth. When he first meets Tiffany, he blurts out, "You look nice," and then quickly reassures her that he wasn't flirting with her, before launching into a whole spiel about how he is trying to be better at acknowledging beauty because he never used to do that with his wife.

In the same breath, he asks Tiffany how her husband died, despite being warned to avoid the topic.

When he sees Ronnie shaking his head behind Tiffany, Pat quickly changes the subject to Tiffany's job. "I got fired actually," Tiffany replies, prompting Pat to ask the equally inappropriate, "How did that happen?" If Tiffany is taken aback by the question, she doesn't show it. "Does it really matter?" she replies. During dinner, Pat and Tiffany exchange notes on the various psychotropic drugs they have taken and their side effects, making Ronnie and Veronica uncomfortable in the process.

When Tiffany suddenly stands up in the middle of dinner and announces that she's tired and wants to go home, Pat bluntly tells her that she has poor social skills. "I have a problem?" Tiffany replies in disbelief. "You say more inappropriate things than appropriate things. You scare people." As Pat himself admits to Tiffany later in the film, he doesn't have a filter when he talks.

Answer: His wedding video

After dinner at Ronnie and Veronica's, Pat plays the part of the gentleman and walks Tiffany home. When Tiffany makes an advance at Pat, he is caught off guard and responds by telling her that he is married. When Tiffany says that she's married too, Pat offends her by pointing out that her husband is dead. In a confusing turn of events for Pat, Tiffany does the following in quick succession: she hugs him and starts to cry, then pushes him away and slaps him across the face, before marching determinedly into her house. Pat goes home and collapses on his bed, but he is unable to sleep. He ransacks the house, desperately looking for his wedding video, and becomes increasingly manic when he is unable to find it. He starts to shout, waking up the entire neighborhood, and accidentally knocks his mother to the floor and gets into a slapping fight with his father when they try to calm him down. Officer Keogh arrives to sort out the mess.

When Cliff, Pat's therapist, asks him why the "overwhelming urgency" to watch his wedding video, Pat brushes it off with an excuse about him wanting to see his wife after eight months in the hospital. Cliff doesn't buy it, though, and postulates that Pat is actually attracted to Tiffany, but doesn't want to be drawn to her as it would ruin his chances of reconciling with Nikki.

Answer: If you work your hardest and stay positive, you have a shot at a silver lining.

Pat learns from his stint in Baltimore that "getting caught in a state of negativity... is a poison like nothing else", so he adopts an overly optimistic outlook on life to cope with his bipolar condition. He sums up his philosophy to his therapist in this manner: "This is what I believe to be true. ... You have to do everything you can. You have to work your hardest, and if you do, if you stay positive, you have a shot at a silver lining." Pat's refusal to see the negative in a given situation and his single-mindedness about getting back together with Nikki sometimes blinds him to other apparent truths that are right before him. Eventually, his therapist uses his own philosophy to get him to break out of his old patterns of behavior.

He points out to Pat that his struggles with bipolar disorder have made him "a happier, calmer person with a beautiful, positive philosophy", and that he should apply this to his relationship with Tiffany. "You said Nikki is friends with Ronnie, Veronica and Tiffany, so if you become friends with Tiffany, Nikki will think that you're a kind, generous, large-hearted person who helps people in need, who's basically thriving," Cliff says to Pat. "So if you help Tiffany, it will be good for you."

Answer: By implying that she is crazier than him

Pat wants to tell Nikki that he is in control of his life and doing really well, but he can't do it in person because of the restraining order against him. Tiffany offers to get a letter to Nikki for Pat, but says that she would have to hide it from her sister, Veronica, as she is already on "thin ice" with her family over how she lost her job.

She opens up to Pat about how she was so depressed after Tommy died that she started sleeping with everyone in the office, which ultimately led to her dismissal. Pat vows to work on his letter to Nikki immediately, but his illness gets the better of him, and he quickly spirals into one of his paranoid delusions. "Wait a minute," he says. "Did Veronica tell Nikki about our dinner? Why would she do that? Was it a test? How did I do? I think I did pretty well." Tiffany tells him that Veronica said that he was cool, before adding "basically", which sets Pat off again. "Basically?" he asks. "Was I some percentage not cool?" Tiffany tries to reassure Pat, but makes the mistake of comparing his behavior to her own, which Pat quickly derides. "It's just not right," he says, "lumping you and I together.

It's... I mean, it's wrong. Nikki wouldn't like that." Pat's meaning isn't lost on Tiffany. "You think that I'm crazier than you," she says. "You know what? Forget I offered to help you." She storms out of the diner, leaving Pat to quickly pay the bill and chase after her. When he catches up to her, he says, "Can I just explain myself, please? I didn't want Nikki to think that I was associated with that kind of sexual behavior because I've never done anything like that, okay?" Tiffany responds by pointing out that Pat may not have gone through what she experienced, but he sure loved hearing about it. "You are afraid to be alive," she observes. "You are afraid to live. You're a hypocrite. You're a conformist. You're a liar. I opened up to you, and you judged me."

Answer: "I think that wing is being fixed, my friend."

After their disastrous first date, Pat manages to smooth things over with Nikki, who agrees to deliver his letter to Nikki. When he arrives at her house with the letter, he is oblivious to Tiffany's parents' open hostility towards him, but has no problems appreciating that they don't want Jordie around. Jordie is an ex-colleague of Tiffany's who obviously still holds a candle for her. Tiffany's father calls Jordie a "rude creep" and asks him to leave, and when that doesn't work, Pat steps in. "Look," he says, "sometimes it's okay with girls like this.

They want to have fun, and sometimes it's not because they got a broken wing and they're hurt and they're an easy target. And in this case, this particular case, I think that wing is being fixed, my friend. And you got to make sure it gets mended, and you're getting in the way of that right now, okay, because she's sensitive and she's smart - she's artistic.

This is a great girl, and you gotta be respectful of that. Come on." As Pat escorts Jordie back to his car, we learn that Tiffany has been standing behind the door and listening the whole time.

She takes in how Pat stood up for her, and seems resolved about something. Once Jordie is gone, she runs after Pat to tell him that she will only give Nikki his letter if he agrees to be her dance partner.

Answer: She tells him how Tommy died.

Tiffany starts the dance session with something simple, and asks Pat to walk across the room towards her. "Why don't you walk towards me like I'm Nikki?" she suggests. "And the only way to convey how much you've missed me is by your walk, by your slow walk. You can't talk. Only walk. Do it." Pat reluctantly starts walking. "Don't look up until you're halfway here," instructs Tiffany. Pat walks steadily towards Tiffany, and only looks up at the last possible moment, stopping with his face just inches away from Tiffany's.

The moment is electric. "Do you feel that? That's emotion," Tiffany says, but Pat is dismissive. "I don't feel anything," he says as he turns away. "Has anybody ever told you how Tommy died?" Tiffany asks, which gets Pat's immediate attention. "We were married for three years and five days, and I loved him," Tiffany recounts. "But for the last couple of months I just wasn't into sex at all. I just felt like we were so different and I was depressed.

Some of that was just me.

Some of it was he wanted me to have kids and I have a hard enough time taking care of myself. I don't think that makes me a criminal. Anyway, one night after dinner he drove to Victoria's Secret at King of Prussia Mall and got some lingerie to get something going, and on the way back he stopped on 76 to help a guy with a flat tire and got hit by a car and killed. The Victoria Secret box was still in the front seat." She pauses for a moment to let her words sink in. "That's a feeling," she says as she turns away from a visibly upset Pat.

Answer: He wants him to watch the Eagles play the Giants.

Pat Sr. is a rabid and incredibly superstitious Philadelphia Eagles fan who follows various rituals on game day, which he believes will improve the chances of a win for his beloved team. These obsessive tendencies are reinforced after he loses his job and begins a thriving bookmaking business, since he has a lot more riding on the outcome of every game. One morning he goes up to the attic and wakes up his son with a deathly serious look on his face. "We got to beat the Giants if we want to have any chance of getting into the division, any chance of playing in the playoffs," he tells Pat, who replies to say that he didn't know that. Pat Sr. believes that they should spend more time together talking about the Eagles, as he feels that Pat's positive new philosophy will help with their ju-ju. "Maybe I didn't spend enough time with you growing up," he confesses. "I spent too much time with your brother.

It might have made you feel worse about your behavior but I didn't know anything, I didn't know how to handle it. I mean, that's what all this Eagles stuff is about - it's about us spending time now. I want to do everything I can to help you get back on your feet. That's the whole point. I wish you'd watch these games with me." Pat is visibly moved by his father's words, and when he goes downstairs he learns that his father is betting heavy on the upcoming Eagles game against the Giants, and he wants Pat to go watch the game with his brother.

Answer: "If it's me reading the signs..."

Tiffany had given Pat a letter from Nikki that was written in response to his letter. Whilst Nikki did indicate that she was glad to hear that Pat was doing well, her letter contained the following stipulation: "In spite of all these positive developments, Pat, I have to say, if it's me reading the signs I need to see something, to prove you are ready to resume our marriage."

When Tiffany shows up at his house to confront Pat about missing dance practice, she first has to contend with Pat Sr., who is intent on blaming her for distracting Pat and messing with the Eagles' ju-ju. Tiffany proceeds to rattle off a series of statistics she had memorized to demonstrate that the Eagles have actually won every game they played whenever Pat spent time with her. "If Pat had been with me, like he was supposed to, he wouldn't have gotten into a fight, he wouldn't be in trouble, maybe The Eagles beat the New York Giants," she says. To top off her argument, she points out that Pat's personal motto, "Excelsior", also happens to be the official motto for the State of New York. "If it's me reading the signs," she says, "I don't send the Eagles guy whose personal motto is 'Excelsior' to a ... Giants game." After Pat Sr. agrees on a parlay bet with Randy that requires Pat and Tiffany to score at least a 5.0 at the dance competition, Pat decides that he doesn't need the pressure and quits the competition. As he leaves the house, Tiffany uses the phrase "if it's me reading the signs" two more times as she tells him that he's "not a stand-up guy right now". Outside, Pat pulls the letter from Nikki out of his pocket and re-reads the section that uses the same phrase, and realizes that Tiffany never gave Nikki his letter, and that the response from Nikki was actually written by Tiffany.

Answer: In a letter

Pat and Tiffany's dance number is amateurish but strangely charming, and the four judges give it a combined average score of 5.0, allowing Pat Sr. to win his bet with Randy and recover the money he needs to open his restaurant. Everyone is ecstatic, but Pat cuts the celebrations short when he leaves Tiffany's embrace and makes a bee-line for Nikki. Tiffany is crushed, and she grabs her coat and leaves the ballroom in despair.

By the time Pat catches up with Tiffany on the street, she is fighting back tears and running away from him. "Wait a second," he yells. "I have one more letter for you to read, okay?" Tiffany assumes that Pat has written another letter to Nikki, so she tells him to give it to her himself. "You don't ever have to see me again if you just read it, all right?" Pat says. Tiffany reluctantly begins to read the letter out loud. "Dear Tiffany," she recites, pausing when she realizes that the letter is addressed to her. "I know you wrote the letter." The truth of the moment sinks in quickly, and she casts a sheepish look at Pat.

She continues reading out loud, and Pat joins in midway, reciting the rest of the letter from memory. "The only way you could meet my crazy was by doing something crazy yourself. Thank you. I love you. I knew it the minute I met you. I'm sorry it took so long for me to catch up. I just got stuck. Pat." After a moment, he adds, "I wrote that a week ago." By this time, tears are streaming down Tiffany's face, but she never looks away from Pat's constant gaze. "You wrote that a week ago?" she asks, prompting Pat to confirm that he did. Tiffany can hardly contain the disbelief in her voice as she asks, "You let me lie to you for a week?" Pat manages to find the perfect answer. "I was trying to be romantic," he replies. Tiffany's tone quickly changes to tender again. "You love me?" she asks. "Yeah, I do," Pat says with a grin on his face. "Okay," Tiffany concedes, as she leans in towards Pat, and they kiss in the middle of the street.