Review of Joy (2015) by Jenna G — 13 Jun 2016

I have been patiently waiting to watch Joy, mostly because I've liked David O. Russell's other two films with Jennifer Lawrence (especially Silver Linings Playbook) and I had heard some mixed things about the film.

And after watching, the movie is just....kinda weird. When the first trailer debuted, everyone was pretty quick to say how Lawrence was likely to win another Oscar, and possibly it was Russell's time, too.

But when awards season rolled around, Lawrence got her nom's, but not much, if anything, for the film. After watching, it's easy to understand why. Lawrence is very good. I do consider myself a fan of hers, but sometimes it does feel like shes trying too hard in certain movies.

But as Joy, she brings passion and life to the character. She has her showstopping/flashy scenes, but otherwise, it's a very understated, believable performance & that's a great thing. I didn't like that she doesn't age throughout the film, really.

Until the end, you cannot tell how much time has went by as Lawrence looks the same all through the film, so it was a bit confusing. The movie is just so weird, too. The first half of it was pretty difficult to get through for me.

It was like the movie didn't know what kind of movie it wanted to be. The characters, except for Joy, are written to be so overwhelmingly odd and unrealistic. The soap opera scenes do not work. AT ALL.

I was only okay with them because I used to watch General Hospital once upon a time & was glad to see two truly underrated performers (Laura Wright & Maurice Benard) in a pretty big movie. But anyways.

Bradley Cooper is solid, but he's not around long enough. Same with Diane Ladd. The second half of the movie, though, is so much better and way more interesting. I rarely turn off a movie if I'm uninterested.

but I was close to doing so here. I am kinda glad to have stuck with it, mostly because of Lawrence and her performance. With Joy Mangano and her remarkable true story, this movie should've been great, but sadly is wasn't anywhere close.