Review of Joy (2015) by Moviescriticnet — 28 Dec 2015

Joy is the true story of Joy Mangano, a self-made millionaire who created her own business empire selling patented products like revolutionary mops through telemarketing. Despite how cheesy and uninteresting that sounds this is an excellent movie.

First of all I never really liked most of David O. Russell's films (like Silver Linings Playbook-2012 and American Hustle-2013) but this one truly reveals Jennifer Lawrence's unique talent. She shouldn't have been nominated for Oscar for American Hustle and she shouldn't have won it for her performance in Silver Linings Playbook but in this one her undoubted talent unfolds to such an extent that I now consider her the best actress along with Charlize Theron. We can definitely say she's the next big thing in Hollywood. The story is really interesting and the film never gets tiring despite it's duration (124 mins). Not only that but it's really emotionally moving. In a nutshell you can say that it's an American dream story built through constant difficulties, a modern Cinderella story with a strong anti racist vision. All classes and races may come together and succeed if there is enough talent, confidence and persistence, that's the point of the film. Robert De Niro tries to copy himself in Meet the Fockers and Bradley Cooper is good but nothing special, like in all his movies. After all there is no reason for them to try to challenge the imposing star of Jennifer Lawrence, who really brings "Joy" to her character. Needless to say the film got nominated for two Golden Globes, Best musical/comedy and best performance by an actress.