Joy (2015)Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, Edgar RamirezWritten By: David O. RussellDirected By: David O. Russell Release Date: Dec. 25, 2015Rating: 3.8/5
Summary: Joy, our main protagonist, comes up with a grand idea, a new mop. Boring? But, hey, it's Jennifer Lawrence.
My Thoughts: David O. Russell can normally work some magic, but Joy fizzles out immensely. While it's entertaining and I'm very happy to see Lawrence, Cooper and De Niro together on screen once more, this movie was just okay. There were no fantastic, uber dramatic scenes, nor did anyone or anything really stand out in general for me except for the ending, which was a bit epic, but it came way too quickly and suddenly. That resolution literally came out of nowhere in the last couple minutes of the film.
The story is about a woman trying to build an empire on mops and while it doesn't sound like the most amazing concept, it's that damn cast that entertained me. Their characterization and the delivery of their lines drew me in and in just about every scene was I was completely involved. At one minute I was laughing, then I was in shock, then I was sad and then crying once again, but it wasn't because of the plot because there wasn't one.
The plot made sense and from the beginning, you understand that this woman wants to sell a mop, but why? What's her motivation? Is it her unconscious need to be better than her sister? Can't be, because that's not mentioned at all, just seen in their interactions. Was it her wanting to be more involved with the family? Because that's not mentioned, just seen. The whole movie was about her selling this mop and nothing else. It wasn't inspiring, it wasn't uplifting, nor did the movie have any sort of meaningful message behind it, which was upsetting because a movie about a friggin' mop is going to need a little something else besides big names behind it to make other people want to watch it.
