An enthralling whirlwind vision of a woman’s quest to reach her full potential, Joy also marks another strong collaboration between director David O. Russell and star Jennifer Lawrence, even though its reach doesn’t quite exceed its grasp.
Expectations are a killer. After the strong trifecta of The Fighter – Silver Linings Playbook – American Hustle, expectations were indeed sky-high for O. Russell’s latest film starring muse and superstar leading lady Jennifer Lawrence.
Yet while Joy doesn’t match the quality of O. Russell’s most recent work, it is by no means a bad movie. In fact, it’s a rather great one: engrossing, moving, funny and filled with charismatic performances, Joy just might be that film everyone looks back on in 10 years with exclamations of “underrated” (such is the power of expectations diminished).
A somewhat biopic, it’s subject is an interesting one: Joy Mangano, a single mother turned self-made millionaire through the invention of the “Miracle Mop.” In O. Russell’s hands, this tale of rags to riches is anything but straight forward, O. Russell utilising a dream like quality that rock ‘n’ rolls with the turbulent whirlwind that is Mangano’s life, as aspirations of doing/being something/someone exceptional wrestles with a life in constant disarray, with her home life especially a tug of war between her lounge singing ex-husband Tony (Edgar Ramirez), shut-in mother Terry (Virginia Madsen), scheming sister Peggy (Elisabeth Rohm) and overbearing father Rudy (Robert De Niro).
It’s through Rudy’s relationship with wealthy widower Trudy (Isabella Rosellini) where Joy is given the opportunity to create her Miracle Mop, and never has the stakes upon the success of a home-appliance felt as high as O. Russell makes it here.
Joy is not some simple “mop movie.” Rather, it delves into the rough and tumble world of the entrepreneur, with vision in sight and may an obstacle to overcome in order to achieve that vision. O. Russell suitably has his camera in constant movement, depicting the roller coaster ride that is trying to succeed in the business world.
Lawrence is exceptionally good as Mangano, encompassing every facet of this woman’s being, in turn making her struggles that much more real, and her achievements worth applauding.
Great too is De Niro, who seems to have found a director in O. Russell that is able to tap into that well of extraordinary talent that has laid dormant for way too long, with this performance as an eternally undermining father easily one of his most enjoyably disposable.
O. Russell has taken many a hit for what many consider a failure from the contentious filmmaker. Yet while Joy is no Silver Linings Playbook, it mops the floor with the competition. Brash, magical, enthralling and more than a tad flustering, Joy is a biopic that deserves more praise. Give it time and it will receive just that.
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