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From NetGuide.co.nz ...


No joy in Joy: 124 minutes of mess
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Don't go into this movie with any expectations because
it will disappoint you. It's flawed, messy and more
irritating than it needed to be. That said, there are
far worse ways to spend 124 minutes.

David O'Russell's latest film tells the story of Joy
Mangano, a real life entrepreneur, inventor,
businesswoman and mother.

You could say the film follows the trials and
tribulations of her first business venture, but I would
say it's more of an overarching look at this formidable
character. Formidable, at least, when played by
Jennifer Lawrence.

Lawrence dominates the film, as she tends to do. This
is my least favourite role of hers, but she undeniably
brought Joy to life and made her believable amidst the
mess and theatrics.

While some say Lawrence is overrated, and it's true she
seemed to be everywhere all at once, she's good at what
she does and this film would have fallen apart without
her.

Lawrence leads a mixed cast consisting of Robert De Niro
as her father, Edgar Ramirez as her ex-husband/friend/
advisor (this combination works in the most touching way),
Dascha Polanco as her best friend, Diane Ladd as her
grandmother, and Bradley Cooper as a businessman.

Oh and Isabella Rossellini makes an appearance as Joy's
father's girlfriend and her first financial backer.

Polanco and Ramirez were solid and Ladd wasn't half bad.
Cooper and De Niro have, at least in what I've seen
recently, fallen into the habit of playing themselves
and I would rather watch my screensaver. My screensaver
is black.

Even so, most of the characters made valiant attempts to
keep this film moving - but they were bailing out a
sinking ship with broken teacups. Lawrence, bucket in
hand, kept those splintering ruins mostly above water.

At the centre of the action, she led the madness and the
mess and made sure this whole thing didn't fall into
chaos. Although it got close.

Dramatic, haphazard and overwrought, at times I felt like
I was watching a bad play. The dialogue was so far from
how real humans speak, the camera would linger for years
on one person's face, the grandmother narrated for no
apparent reason all in hushed tones, sentences would be
cut off mid-way through, and every now and then it would
divert off to dreams, flashbacks, or imagination.

The construction of the film was so obvious - you could
almost hear the whirring of the theatrics and the director
yelling out "enter stage left". Or at least him saying,
"No I'm bored of this movie being a family drama, let's
take it to a sepia-toned flashback."

I thought about the real Joy, hoped they would let the
story speak for itself, wished they would take the
schizophrenic kid away from the soundtrack so we could
listen to more than 26 seconds of a song, and wondered
where I could get a stiff drink.

But somewhere along the way I started to be drawn in by
this character who was so goddamn resilient.

The dramatics weren't quite so grating. I was more okay
with being forced into another weird dream land, to look
at a character's minute facial expressions, listen to
another clunky sentence. Even the end, which was utterly
weird and unnecessary and made Joy into a plastic robot,
could be tolerated.

I put my growing enjoyment at the hands of two things.
One, you can get used to most things after a while,
particularly when you remember what a joy (pun and irony
intended) it is to go to the movies. Two, I loved
getting to know this woman.

The young girl who loved making things, the mother
working against a hundred things every day, and the woman
launching her own business and taking on corporate
America in the process.

As a by-product of being a theatrical Hollywood movie the
story is glamorised, but it does reveal someone who
forged their own path when everyone, even those with the
best intentions, was saying both overtly and subtly their
dreams were preposterous.

Let me set the scene: the camera zooms in on De Niro's
face, the lights dim, and he says his well-rehearsed line
with a woeful look on his face, "It's my fault, I gave her
the confidence to think she was more than just an
unemployed housewife."

And her grandmother, telling her in the darkness of a
wardrobe that she was destined for great things but first
she had to get married to a nice man and have some kids.

When Joy does experience success, it's in more of a real
way than you usually see on-screen, especially in this
sort of film.

It's not a simple case of having an idea, brainstorming
like a fiend with your daughter's crayons, building
something from scratch, catching a big break and living
happily ever after.

It's wins and losses, highs and lows, and it doesn't end
with a pat on the back and a big fat cake and a cherry on
top. This movie shows life is gritty, and if you want to
do something different you'll have to be a bit mad and
headstrong and everyone in your life will doubt you. But
a resolute strength will see you through and keep you
alive.

So yes, I thought it could have done without trying quite
so hard and being quite so irritating, but no, it wasn't
the worst. I started out frustrated but left the cinema
excited to be a badass woman.

JLaw, call me, let's get wine and take over the world. Oh
and maybe bring your son since you ignored him during the
whole movie.

https://netguide.co.nz/story/no-joy-in-joy-minutes-mess/

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