Joy-2015

Director David O. Russell

Starring Jennifer Lawrence

Scott’s Review #485

Reviewed September 24, 2016

Grade: B-

Joy is a safe, mainstream, female-centered 2015 film, a biopic written for current star Jennifer Lawrence.

She was nominated for a Best Actress at the Academy Awards for her role, and she carries the film.

Still, despite her performance, the film is nothing special and is written in a ho-hum manner.

It is simply not very compelling, and the supporting characters aren’t used as well as they could be. Despite being based on a true story, the writing is lazy and the plot far-fetched.

I expected more.

The film is another collaboration between director David O. Russell and big stars of the time, Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, and Robert De Niro, all used in previous Russell films.

Lawrence plays Joy, a struggling Long Island mother of two, divorced from her husband (who still lives in the basement of her house), with multiple family members living with her to form a support unit.

Joy is the family’s breadwinner.

Joy’s grandmother narrates the story, whom she calls Mimi (Diane Ladd). Mimi always knew Joy would be a success, and we see a few scenes of Joy as a child, surviving her dysfunctional family and her parents’ disputes.

DeNiro plays her womanizing father, divorced from her mother (Virginia Madsen), who lies in bed all day watching soap operas.

Cooper plays opportunist QVC executive Neil Walker, who takes a liking to Joy and helps her achieve her dream as a successful businesswoman after she patents an idea for a new, high-powered mop.

The authenticity of the time, 1989, and through the 1990s is apparent, as we see Joy working for Eastern Airlines, a company that would fold several years later.

The automobiles, dresses, and hairstyles also feel authentic to the time.

The film does these points very well. And how cute was it to see famous daytime television stars such as Susan Lucci, portraying soap opera stars, as Joy’s mother lives her life vicariously through their tangled and bizarre soap lives?

Several scenes on the television set give us glimpses of the soap stories.

The film as a whole, though, feels too neat.

Predictably, Joy faces obstacles on her way to success.  Already struggling financially, she takes out a second mortgage on her house. At first, she cannot give away mops, let alone sell them.

On the brink of giving up, she finishes a meeting with execs who laugh at her product, but Walker gives her a break because she has a pretty face.

Predictably, things don’t go well, and a rather dull subplot follows a company in Texas trying to steal Joy’s idea. When she goes and threatens them, they immediately back down and obediently give in to her every whim.

This is both unrealistic and uninteresting.

I would have liked to have seen a messy back-and-forth or some court scenes, but the Texas company is portrayed as nothing but the villain.

The writing has plot holes or missed opportunities, and many questions abound. Despite many scenes of Joy’s past, we still learn little.

Her entire family lives with her in a suburban Long Island house; why does Joy own the house instead of her mother or grandmother?

Why does Joy have a rivalry with her half-sister, Peggy? Why does Joy’s father own an auto garage and still need to stay with Joy? Why is Joy’s mother mostly in bed?

Madsen as the mother is rather cartoonish and unnecessary to the plot, and Ladd is a dynamic actress given little substance.

I didn’t buy De Niro as a cad or as someone in love with his wealthy new girlfriend, Trudy (though seeing Isabella Rossellini in the part is a win), who conveniently shows up to finance Joy.

Despite an enormously talented cast, which is fantastic to see, most of the supporting parts could have been played by anyone, as the roles aren’t that challenging, and the film is certainly a vehicle to showcase Jennifer Lawrence, David O. Russell’s current “it” girl.

This isn’t a slight against Jennifer Lawrence, since she is the best part.  She portrays Joy as a sympathetic, strong-willed, fair, decent human being with enormous struggles and a blue-collar sensibility.

Great performance, but I wish the writing and the other talents involved in the film were given better material.

Oscar Nominations: Best Actress-Jennifer Lawrence