Review of Joy (2015) by Eric T — 03 Jan 2016

I liked it and I didn't like it. The story is interesting, the characters should have been. O'Russell is a favorite of mine since way back when. His movies had heart, energy and playfulness. None of that is on display here. I wanted to slap every one of these people at some point in the movie and get them to wake up!

It was so aggravating to have no sense of passion, urgency, or, well, joy in this film. It didn't have to be grandiose, that's not who these people are. But my god, they were supposed to be alive. Even Diane Ladd seemed drugged.

This film was made as if through some thick haze that nobody was able to break through. I can see this interesting story is out there somewhere but it's giving me a headache trying to find it in this dense and restricting atmosphere.