Review of Joy (2015) by Dillinger P — 11 Jan 2016

Ever wanted to follow the story of a woman who invented the only mop you will ever need? Guess what, Joy is the film for you! All joking aside, David O. Russell's film actually has a lot more going on with it than my opening statement may suggest, it ponders a sense of worth, following your dreams and indeed takes a good stab at family values, it doesnt quite succeed at everything but it gives as good as it can.

Joy is a wonderfully ordinary person, born into a huge disconnected family, that would put any episode of Eastenders to shame. After having her hopes and dreams of becoming an inventor are destroyed, Joy is forced to look after the very people who have sucked her drive and passion dry.

Joy's patience soon runs out and she soon finds herself going back to her roots, to invent an extremely durable mop and indeed becoming an over night success on a televised shopping channel. Russell's wonderfully bizarre premise is both its draw and its achilles heel, on the one hand it turns a tried and tested formula, one Russell is no stranger to, into a wonderfully unique experience, full of dazzling performances and stylish visuals, on the other it seems rather pointless by the end credits.

Joy's biggest strength is its cast, Lawrence is every bit as magnetic, lovable and passionate as you would expect her to be, giving an extremely solid and heart warming performance that truly deserves to be witnessed, the supporting cast are also on top form, Cooper, Ladd, Madsen and Rosselini are all on top form and De Niro turns in his best performance in a long time.

Russell's writing is also spot on, his ability to churn out dialogue has never been an issue, but he solidly conveys a wealth of brilliant character, oozing heart and soul at just about every turn.

Russell also manages to make his film look dazzling, its colour palette is lush, its brilliantly shot and there are moments of sheer magic and ironically joy to be had here. My biggest issue, and its so big that it cripples the film, Joy just doesnt have the material behind it to allow it to truly stand out from the bunch.

This is a theme that most movies, at least on some level, deal with, however for Joy it is the soul focus, making the entire experience underwhelming. It's upsetting that Joy finishes the way it does, messy, lacking true purpose and somewhat rushed, because its a wonderful ride, that has some brilliant character and performance, but all this cant give it the sense of purpose it deserves or needs.

completely watchable, nowhere near as potent and essential as Russell's other work.