Review of Joy (2015) by Matt B — 18 Feb 2016

Joy is a pretty inconsistent film. Sometimes it's overly sappy, sometimes it's uncomfortably grim; sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's dramatic; sometimes I liked it, other times not so much. There's nothing inherently wrong with an inconsistent tone because hey, life has an inconsistent tone. The problem here though is the payoff. Joy goes through a lot of crap in this movie, to the point where's it's downright uncomfortable to watch at times. The film really seems to relish these uncomfortable scenes and really dwells on them. However, when things turn around and start going her way, it seems to brush over them far too quickly. It's like an 80/20 split between unpleasantness and victory, and this really takes away from what should be a great underdog story.

I bring this up right away because it's really the films only flaw. Everything else about the film really works. All the actors are great, especially Jennifer Lawrence who carries the whole thing. I don't think she deserves an Oscar win, but she definitely deserves her nomination. The movie has an interesting look and color design, and it kept me engaged. I also liked that this was a very grounded story. As soon as we see the mop she's created I remember thinking "oh hey, I've used one of those before". In a lot of true story movies there's a disconnect with the audience, at no fault of the film really because many times there telling a story that's not at all a typical human experience. Joy was cool because it's about an invention you've probably used at some point in your life, and Joy is a familiar character. I sknow people like Joy, I know people like her family, and thus I connected with her more than a lot of biopic movies.

Joy had potential to be a great underdog movie, but it got too bogged down in the things bringing Joy down and not enough on her eventual victories. It's important to show her struggles, but it shouldn't have dwelled on them quite so much. It's still a surprisingly interesting story, and Jennifer Lawrence completely kills it, it's just hard not to be disappointed in it's missed potential.