Joy: Movie Review
In the last two decades, writer/director David O. Russell has given us such gems as “Three Kings”, “The Fighter”, “Silver Linings Playbook”, and “American Hustle”. However, not everything was gold. I am not a fan of 2004’s “I Heart Huckabees” and he can’t take full blame for the much mangled “Accidental Love”. O. Russell reunites with his “Silver Linings” and “Hustle” cast Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, and Rober De Niro, for what I consider one of his lesser works.
“Joy” tells the true story of Joy Mangano (Lawrence), the inventor of the self-wringing Miracle Mop. We learn all the struggles she had to deal with before she became the matriarch of a massive family business dynasty. Before Joy became a successful business woman, she spent her days working a thankless job, only to come home where she not only took care of her daughter, but also her mother Terry (Virginia Madsen), her grandmother Mimi (Diane Ladd) and her ex-husband Tony (Édgar Ramírez), who lived in her basement. If that wasn’t enough, her father Rudy (De Niro) was forced to move in as well.
As a child, Joy was always inventing things, but her parents never supported her great ideas. After cutting her hand on broken glass that she pulled from a mop, Joy came up with a whole new invention, the self-wringing mop. This time, she was not going to let anything get in her way. Her father’s new girlfriend, Trudy (Isabella Rossellini) just so happened to be the widow of a wealthy businessman and Joy approaches her to be an investor. The production of the mops didn’t go smoothly but once they were manufactured, selling them became an even bigger problem. Stores refused to buy them from her and distributers laughed her out of the office. Thankfully, Joy had the support of her best friend Jackie (Dascha Polanco) and her ex-husband, who despite everything, always managed to be there for her. Joy’s own sister was jealous and spiteful.
Things begin to change for Joy after a meeting with the head buyer for QVC, Neil Walker (Cooper). She gets her mop on the shopping network, but even that had a huge setback at first. All of those sales didn’t stop Joy’s new business from a downward spiral. The people she trusted had their own personal interests and they had nothing to do with hers.
The cast in “Joy” is terrific, there is no denying it. This could very well be one of Lawrence’s best performances to date. However, the film itself just isn’t very good. Many of the problems come from O. Russell, who’s direction is kind of all over the place. There is a very interesting story here about a very impressive person, but O. Russell attempts to add too much style which makes it feel less genuine. I never felt like I was watching a movie about a real person and that is a problem. This isn’t the worst film from the acclaimed filmmaker but he can do so much better. Hopefully he will the next time around.
By: Marc Ferman