Review of Joy (2015) by Abb J — 02 Apr 2016

Joy is an overwrought, self-indulgent mess which wastes and pulls into question the talent of everyone in front of and behind the camera. Told in insufferable voiceover by a grandmother character who constantly talks about how great its protagonist, Joy is a movie that never trusts its audience to connect a single dot and hasn't found a narrative device too heavy handed to use (dream sequences, flashbacks, and flashforwards also abound).

This is a movie that says repeatedly it is a movie about the strength of women, as if it wants a pat on the back for it; it's a good thing for movies to be about that, but not for them to be this self-congratulatory about it.

It only knows melodrama and high-volume, never taking time to meditate and always looking to create a classic scene (Isabella Rosselini's four rules, for example, which has great pieces but runs far too long).

On the bright side, Edgar Ramirez is once again great in a bad movie, and de Niro at least looks like he's interested, but its balanced by Bradley Cooper mumbling his way through the proceedings. Lawrence is fine, but her talents don't extend quite far enough to save this trainwreck.

I'll defend O'Russel's work like The Fighter, American Hustle, Silver Linings Playbook, and even I Heart Huckabees, but Joy is about a big of a miss as one could have after a hot streak like that.

It's only watchable as a hate-watch that you can grimace and roll your eyes at while sleepless and a little hungover on a flight across the Atlantic ocean.