Plot: Joy is a clever woman who life has been holding back. One day, she gets the idea for a new kind of mop and bets everything on it. This is the story of how she eventually succeeds.
Thoughts:
I don't hide the fact that David O. Russell is a filmmaker who I struggle to find the appeal of. The movies just don't click with me. He gets good performances out of his actors though (11 acting Oscar nomination between his last three movies). The strength is normally with the ensemble. In Joy, he doubles down on Jennifer Lawrence.
Jennifer Lawrence is great but unconvincing in this movie. She commits to the character and does everything that's asked of her. She also never stops being Jennifer Lawrence, never disappears into the character. I really don't want to say she was miscast. She's too young. Joy is supposed to be a woman worn down by her life after years of disappointment. Lawrence is so clearly still young that I can't buy it. But, when she just gets to be a kick-ass character, she's great. The context is all wrong, not Lawrence. I feel like I'm sounding contradictory. I swear it makes sense in my head.
This is a funny movie, which is no surprise. Russell is great at throwing in some odd jokes throughout his movies. Nearly every supporting character is a caricature and they embrace it. The movie is nearly a soap opera (sometimes literally turning into one), so the wild swings in reality are fitting. There's a lot of quirkiness just to be quirky, like the mom (Madsen) falling in love with the plumber. One could look at all that as details that enrich the world or as filler. Russell's fans would call it the former, I lean toward calling it the latter, and I think that sums of the divide between us.
The movie is so concerned with making sure that Joy is the hero that it sinks nearly everything else. Her family is a little too nasty. The QVC people (except for St. Bradley of Cooper) are all a little too dismissive. The manufacturing company shaking her down twirl their mustaches a little too much. When Russell can't find a way to be delicate, he throw an anvil at a situation.
Movie Theater MVP: This has to go to the lady sitting behind me who I have dubbed "Target Audience Tracy". Every once in a while, I see a movie and am lucky enough to sit near someone who the movie was designed for. Tracy [not her name] was at every test screening and answered every single "what would you like to see more of" question. She laughed at every joke she was meant to. She gasped in disbelief when Joy's family was awful to her. She yelled "You go girl!" when Joy beat the evil businessman at the end. She was the only one who clapped when we got to the credits. I envy her for her experience watching that.
Elephant in the Room: Tell me more about this mop. Look, if I needed to buy a mop, you better believe that I would get one of hers. The hands-free ringing. The 300 ft. of absorbent cotton. Washing machine safe. This thing is a dream come true for only $19.99 (circa 1990).
To Sum Things Up:
Jennifer Lawrence is great despite not being a perfect fit for the role. This is a nice story about not giving up when things get hard. It's funny. It's engaging. It doesn't all fit together in the end, but that mostly doesn't matter.
Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend
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