Joy (2015) - a mini review (1 Viewer)

Thomas T · Nov 30, 2015

A divorced single mother (Jennifer Lawrence) is trying to keep a dysfunctional family remaining on civil terms which is hard when they all live under the same roof. Her ex-husband (Edgar Ramrirez) lives in the basement with her father (Robert De Niro) who is divorced from her mother (Virginia Madsen) who lives in her bedroom watching soap operas all day. But there's a way out from a strength that even she doesn't know she has in her. Everybody loves a story about an underdog and director David O. Russell follows his AMERICAN HUSTLE with this marvelous dramedy with another sensational Jennifer Lawrence performance. The true story about the inventor of the Miracle Mop doesn't sound very exciting but Russell has crammed his movie with eccentric and interesting characters and Lawrence's Joy is so likable that the audience is rooting for her all the way through the downs and ups and downs again. It's fresh and unpredictable and a love song to powerful women and what they have to overcome in a man's world. In the hands of a lesser director, this might have been just another Lifetime movie but what Russell gives us is, well ..... a joy (pun intended). With Bradley Cooper, Isabella Rossellini, Diane Ladd, Susan Lucci, Elisabeth Rohm, Donna Mills, Dascha Polanco and Melissa Rivers (playing her mother Joan).

Mark Booth · Nov 30, 2015

Looking forward to this one! The trailers look awesome!!

Mark

mattCR · Dec 1, 2015

This is really high on my wait list to see.. I like the premise of the story a good deal and so I'm rooting for this one to be good.

Yavin · Dec 25, 2015

Loved this one. Below is an encapsulated version of my full review:

In David O. Russell's American Hustle, Jennifer Lawrence played a frustrated housewife who was married to a conman masquerading as a legitimate businessman. But in Russell's latest film, Joy, Lawrence is a former housewife looking to make a name for herself as a legitimate businesswoman, in this fictionalized account of the life of Miracle Mop inventor Joy Mangano. From the get-go, it's clear that Russell and co-writer Annie Mumolo have taken more than a few creative liberties in bringing Mangano's life story to the big screen, as embellishments range from the quirky narrative to the way the movie frames Joy as some kind of super woman, able to conquer any and all obstacles in her path with little more than her steely resolve. Throughout all of this, however, there's one constant, and that's Lawrence, who delivers yet another knockout performance. Equal parts humor and emotion, Lawrence's portrayal of the title character is the main reason to see Joy, a movie that plays like a modern-day fairytale but which also feels tailor-made to play to her strengths as an actress. Although scenarios, plot points and even characterizations occasionally have a tendency to come across as ridiculously outlandish, Lawrence is always there to anchor the proceedings. And ultimately, that makes Joy more than just the name of her character and the title of the film. It's the feeling that will wash over you as you get up to leave the theater.

Film Rating: 4 out of 5

mattCR · Dec 26, 2015

Better than I expected. Snappy dialog, with a real heart warmer of a story. Good stuff.

Jennifer Lawrence is great in this.

4/5.

Robert Crawford · Dec 26, 2015

I plan on seeing this next week, possibly Tuesday.

Mark Booth · Dec 28, 2015

I was entertained by 'Joy', but the film is just a bit too quirky for my tastes. It would have been better with less quirkiness and more humor. I also found some of the supporting characters (Joy's family members) to be quite unlikeable. That may have been reality for the real Joy Mangano, but it adds up to a less enjoyable film experience for me.

The Booth Bijou gives 'Joy' 3.5 out of 5 stars, or a score of 70%.

Mark

Robert Crawford · Dec 29, 2015

I saw this film today, I liked it, but it's not great film. My rating is 3.75 out of 5 stars. Another stellar performance from Lawrence. Also, Cooper and Lawrence have really good film chemistry. If Cooper was ten years younger, they could become today's Tracy and Hepburn.

Patrick Sun · Jan 1, 2016

I thought this was a boring film, though the script hoped that the weird family dynamics would earn it some interest from the viewing audience.

I felt Jennifer Lawrence needed to be another 5-10 years older for this particular story. The story chugs along with many obstacles for her character to be slapped in the face with, and each times she somehow manages to overcome the obstacles, it feels more and more like fiction, and not really based on a real life story. So I was losing investment in this tale as the film rolled on.

I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+.

benbess · Jan 1, 2016

Patrick Sun said:
I thought this was a boring film, though the script hoped that the weird family dynamics would earn it some interest from the viewing audience.

I felt Jennifer Lawrence needed to be another 5-10 years older for this particular story. The story chugs along with many obstacles for her character to be slapped in the face with, and each times she somehow manages to overcome the obstacles, it feels more and more like fiction, and not really based on a real life story. So I was losing investment in this tale as the film rolled on.

I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+.

Would you be willing to name some films of the last few years you'd actually give a B+, A- or A to?

Patrick Sun · Jan 1, 2016

benbess said:
Would you be willing to name some films of the last few years you'd actually give a B+, A- or A to?

Geez, I guess I'm now all-curmudgeony nowadays. Please check out the Top 10 of 2015 thread for about 15 films I gave a grade of B- and up. I rarely give out grades of A unless I really really like the film.

TravisR · Jan 1, 2016

After a string of wonderful movies from Russell, maybe I was just expecting too much but I was disappointed by this one. The cast and direction are as good as I'd hope but the story is just uninteresting (and I love movies that are basically 2 hours of talking). I couldn't generate any sympathy for Joy since it seems like telling her awful parasitic family to f-off would have solved many of her problems. The movie does pick up once Bradley Cooper comes in but it takes forever to get to that point.

Patrick Sun said:
I felt Jennifer Lawrence needed to be another 5-10 years older for this particular story.

To be fair, that's the nature of a story told over that length of time. If she was older, she wouldn't have been the 'right' age at the beginning of the movie.

Mike Frezon · Jan 3, 2016

I loved the cast.

I loved the direction.

I loved the writing/dialogue.

But I found the story itself dull.

Jennifer Lawrence did yeoman's work in trying to make me like this 'Rocky Makes a Miracle Mop" story. I haven't found her to hit much of a false note in anything I've seen her in. She is quite the young talent. But it wasn't enough with this tale.

Josh Steinberg · Jan 3, 2016

Patrick Sun said:
I felt Jennifer Lawrence needed to be another 5-10 years older for this particular story.

I do like Jennifer Lawrence, but I feel like she's been miscast in most of the things I've seen her in, particularly the other Russell films. She was very good in the roles, but to me, she was so much younger than what the characters were supposed to be that it felt a little bit like watching an outstanding young actress in a high school or college play portraying an older adult - magnificent, but not believable, if that makes any sense. I haven't seen "Joy" yet but I had a feeling that the same would hold true here as well.

benbess · Jan 5, 2016

Like some others here, I was lukewarm on this film. It didn't have that much chemistry between the players imho, the humor was more miss than hit, and the fact that the main character stays ageless over maybe 20 years was a real problem.

I feel like I've noticed this a lot in Hollywood cinema of the last ten years. Age makeup is given up for an amazingly reality-pricking agelessness on the part of movie stars for movies that have a time span of many years.

Winston T. Boogie · Jan 5, 2016

I have only seen Jennifer Lawrence in the films she has made with David Russell. I thought she has been great in all of them, my favorite performance though remains Silver Linings Playbook but this was probably the second best of the bunch in terms of her performance. She is just so natural in these roles and has such a great sense of timing...or Russell just handles her and the material well...or it is a combination of both. Basically, she is easily one of the most enjoyable actors to watch working today.

I think the issue with this film for a lot of people may be the balance it is working out between family drama/comedy and this sort of commentary on the American obsessions of success and television, and how we are manipulated and manipulate ourselves in relation to these things.

Russell continues to work this theme of American obsessions, how they make or break us, and how we seem to rise and fall based on our obsessions. I think the film itself fits neatly in with his other work. It is not as interesting or involving a story as his other films but I felt it was a good story that explored some meaningful ideas and once again delivered some fine performances from the cast.

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Joy (2015) - a mini review (1 Viewer)

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