I think De Niro’s most impressive work this century was in Silver Linings Playbook, as the OCD father unaware of his own issues and addicted to sports gambling, and who couldn’t figure out why his son’s own bipolarity got in the way of recovery from his traumatic marriage. The way his Patrizio Solatano glommed onto Jennifer Lawrence’s loony let’s-take-a-look-at-Philly-sports logic, placing her firmly in the center of Solatano’s family, and the way he was willing to bet everything on it, was about as good as screwball gets in screwball comedies.
I’m a big fan of screwball comedy. Centering one around the NFL and ballroom dancing is definitely risky. Oil and water. SLP may be the best screwball comedy since Tootsie, imo.