Joy is the tale of a working class single mother who end up founding a business dynasty based on the invention of a new kind of light-weight, highly absorbent, self-wringing, washable mop. While the product which the story is built upon doesn’t quite have that blockbuster ring to it (which is probably why it hasn’t been mentioned much in the promotion material), some of the funniest and most endearing scenes indeed are the ones where Joy is lovingly promoting her product.
Based on the real life story of Joy Mangano, who made it big by selling her Miracle Mop on the QVC network in 1992, this is the first film David O. Russell has written and directed fully centered around a woman. Joy is played by his muse from Silver Lining Playbook and American Hustler, Jennifer Lawrence, whom, as always, is a pleasure to watch.
Joy is struggling to make ends meet while supporting the dysfunctional members of her four-generation family, played by the star-studded supporting cast of Robert De Niro as her womanizing father “returned” to the house by his last conquest, Isabella Rossellini as his new flame and co-financier of the mop, Édgar Ramiréz as Joy’s ex-husband and basement tenant, Virginia Madsen as her soap opera addicted mother, and Diane Ladd playing grandma, the film’s narrator and Joy’s eternal supporter against plotting family members and the even harsher outside world of big business.
After trying to mop up a broken glass of red wine and cutting her hands while wringing it, Joy invents the Miracle Mop. Business is initially slow, as corporate powers prefer cheap mops on the market which breaks, so they can sell more mops. But Joy is determined and soon manages to meet with the QVC boss, played by Bradley Cooper. From then on, the proportions of her failures and successes raises to a whole other dimension.
Joy is made with a dry and quirky sense of humor, in the signature style of David O. Russell. However, it differs a bit from his earlier films in taking a more mainstream, family friendly, and audience pleasing direction with much of the dialogue and scenes clearly designed for laughs. Lawrence shines as Joy, even though she appears a bit young to be the head of and sole provider for such a large family – the real Joy was in her mid-thirties. De Niro knows his grumpy-yet-lovable routine of lately inside out, and the rest of the cast delivers very well too. It’s just that the film itself doesn’t quite seem to know where to go.
It’s neither full on comedy as suggested by the made-for-laugh scenes nor the gritty working-class melodrama suggested by the story, and the lack of direction is most apparent in the beginning. When Joy finds her cause the film stabilizes too and becomes more solid, but never rises to American Hustle or Silver Lining Playbook heights.
This does not mean that this is a bad film. Joy is nominated for two Golden Globes (Best Comedy and Best Actress in a Comedy), which is a good indication of Oscar nominations to come. To summarize; Joy doesn’t deliver the outstanding caliber of work we’ve come to expect from this dream team, but even so, the film is a true joy to watch, and the Christmas Day release of this dream-come-true tale matches perfectly with the holiday spirit. EnJOY!
http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR-2TiQVY-k
Film Review: Joy
Reviewed from a 20th Century Fox Screening at NYIT Auditorium, New York, Dec. 11, 2015. Rating: PG-13. Running time: 123 MIN. Joy is released in the US on December 25, 2015.
