Joy

From the director of The Fighter, Silver Linings Playbook & American Hustle, Joy advertises itself to be a biographical comedy-drama but isn't faithful enough to qualify as a biography, has nothing but disappointment in store if what you are looking for is a compelling drama & forgets midway that it's supposed to be a comedy as well.

Joy tells the story of its titular character, a divorced mother of three children who attempts to overcome the overwhelming obstacles in her personal & professional life by bringing her invention into the commercial market, which becomes an overnight success and marks the first step in her rise from a nobody to the founder & matriarch of a powerful business dynasty.

Written & directed by David O. Russell, the first act of Joy has no trouble at all in getting on your nerves for Russell goes horribly smug about his ability to create interesting characters and overburdens the plot with way too many irrelevant people, who never for once allow its titular character to breathe comfortably, plus their contribution amounts to pretty much nothing in the end.

Russell tries too hard in the beginning because of which the supporting cast he introduces us to turn end up being annoying much earlier than expected, thus leaving the responsibility of taking the story past the finish line on its leading lady. Editing also is an issue for the story meanders on moments that are tiresome, Cinematography adds nothing to the experience, and even the soundtrack isn't effective.

Coming to the performances, Joy features quite an ensemble in Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Edgar Ramirez, Isabella Rossellini, Bradley Cooper & others, amongst whom only Lawrence is able to deliver the goods. The supporting cast is anything but supportive, mostly due to the lack of characterisation in Russell's script, and while Lawrence tries to do whatever she can, she doesn't have enough material to work with.

On an overall scale, Joy could've been a highly fascinating biopic for there are tiny glimpses of a hidden gem in its content but instead, it turns out to be an absolute mess that manages to stay afloat only due to Lawrence's commitment. The first act is annoying, the middle part is its only saviour while the third act arrives too abruptly & ends everything a tad too quickly. Definitely the most underwhelming of all Russell-Lawrence collaborations, sitting through Joy was a joyless experience.

Blue-collar visionary Joy (Jennifer Lawrence) has an idea for a revolutionary new home-cleaning product. With the help of her failed lounge singer ex-husband Tony (Edgar Ramirez) and despite the machinations of her crazy family she pitches the product to a home shopping channel mogul (Bradley Cooper).

The film Joy is what you would get if ingested psychedelic mushrooms, wrote an infomercial about Miracle Mop and got an excellent cast of Hollywood stars to appear in it. Nothing is more absurd than the very idea of this movie getting made as a wide release feature with the exception of the inexplicable critical acclaim it has garnered.

Auteur David O.Russell (Who wrote, produced & directed) has been so successful in recent years with films like Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle that it has perhaps made him complacent and even bored. Sometimes when that happens an artist can go off on an experimental tangent. Equally as often the same artist can take on a challenge that they shouldn't. That is what Russell did here in trying to turn an idea that wouldn't normally have been considered for a movie of the week on the Lifetime network and making a feature film out of it.

I feel like seeing it again just to make sure the actors were really saying the goofy lines of dialogue I heard. Some of them appear to be gleaned from a motivational speaker's teleprompter. Others sound like what you hear in a dubbed version of an awful Mexican soap opera. I'm embarrassed for the distinguished cast that they had to try to make sense of this weirdness.

Tinged with Fellini-esque surrealism the bizarre rhythm of sequence suggests it was absolutely butchered during editing by somebody on speed, then Ritalin, then speed again. I often found it incoherent. It probably made perfect sense to drug users.

If the film accomplishes one thing it is that everyone who sees it is gonna wanna buy a Miracle Mop. I started scouting for one online right after I saw it.

I was not drawn to Joy when it was first released because it just looked like a made for TV movie. I was surprised when Jennifer Lawrence was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance and still had no real desire to see Joy. Joy popped up on my new releases list on Apple TV today so I thought I would just watch the first 10 minutes to get an idea whether it would be watching or not. After 10 minutes I knew this was worth watching so my husband and I watched it and to both of our surprise we really liked it. Jennifer Lawrence was outstanding in her role as Joy. I've always thought Lawrence was an amazing actress since I saw her in Winter's Bone. She is the real deal. She is destined for more success with each film she is in. DeNiro is amazing as always. It is a wonderful story that should have received better reviews. I can understand why it wasn't a box office hit but it is definitely worth watching.

I heard that this movie received negative reviews and feedback, so I was pleasantly surprised when I enJOYed the movie as much as I did.

There is no denying that the grand appeal to the movie was Jennifer Lawrence's compelling performance. The movie's story itself does not seem like it has much to offer. A poor, overworked woman selling a plastic mop does not sound that thrilling on paper. However, Lawrence takes it up a level to a powerful story about a woman never giving up and making her own opportunities happen against all odds. She takes you on an emotional journey from start to finish. Lawrence has the undeniable ability to make you ache along with her struggles. This can be uncomfortable for the helpless movie-goer, which leads me to wonder if this is the reason so many people had distaste for the film. No one wants to be told that hard work and strong will are not enough to succeed in this world, and, as a whole, "Joy" does just that.

That being said, "Joy" still left me feeling inspired. As a young, aspiration-filled woman myself, Lawrence's portrayal of Joy makes me feel like I can take on the world (which is dream that current American society consistently crushes on the daily). Lawrence's deadpan stares as she struts in and out of offices along with her turning point bathroom haircut, confirm that both Jennifer and Joy are a force to be reckoned with.

"Joy" also possesses a subtle humor, although many reviews seem to deny its existence. The purposefully over the top soap opera scenes obsessed over by bed-bound Terry (played by Virginia Madsen) are just enough to raise the otherwise dark tone.

Lawrence and David O. Russell take you on an emotional journey with "Joy." It may not be the uplifting movie you want this holiday season, but I would argue it is the movie you need.

David O. Russell has made some lovely films with Jennifer Lawrence, such as "Silver Linings Playbook" and "American Hustle". And here, with Lawrence once again, he's given her an excellent role (that resulted in an Oscar nomination) but that's really about all. Unlike the other films, the rest of the characters are so unlikable and nasty that watching the film is akin to pouring salt into your eyes.....it's just not particularly nice nor pleasant. Now the characters in these other films were not exactly nice folks...but you felt compelled to watch them. Not as much here...mostly because these other characters tend to dominate the story instead of accentuating it in "Joy".

Joy is a character originally envisioned as a biography of real-life Joy Mangano--a woman who invented some labor-saving household items which have made her rich. But as the script was written, the story began to diverge more and more and more from Mangano's life...to the point where it's mostly fiction.

In this story, Joy (Lawrence) is the glue that tries to hold her very dysfunctional and chaotic life together. And, it's tough considering that Joy's family has little in the way of boundaries and Joy is working her butt off. For example, her parents divorced long ago...yet the pair moved in with Joy....and bring chaos to her life as they fight AND the parents both bring their boyfriends/girlfriends into the home! The bottom line is that practically everyone in the family makes great demands on Joy and they don't seem to care that this is destroying her. And, frustratingly, Joy is practically incapable of telling any of these jerks no! I think too much of the film focuses on this chaos, as I found myself tense and frustrated watching her life. I just wanted these folks to go away!

Eventually, like the real Joy, this Joy manages to take her great ideas and market them...and make money from them. Too bad she didn't use this money and power to get restraining orders to keep everyone from her family out of her life. And, too bad it took so long and we needed to cringe constantly at the family until this breakthrough EVENTUALLY occurred. But even then, the family seems to do their best to make Joy's idea fall flat.

The bottom line is that it can be tough to sell a story where you don't like anyone. It can work...but it's an uphill battle...and here it just didn't work well for me. And, I can see why this Russell film didn't do as well in theaters as his other collaborations with Lawrence....making less in the States than it cost to make. As it is, it's watchable but a bit of a disappointment. Slow and not at all a joy to watch! It at least earns a 5 because there are some nice performances. The film MIGHT have worked better had the first half of the movie been reduced significantly and the final portion accentuated further.