Another choice you'll have on Christmas if you decide that Concussion doesn't encompass the Christmas spirit, or if Daddy's Home looks like a worthless pile of garbage, or if you're not lucky enough to hit LA for The Hateful Eight or The Revenant, is Joy. If you've seen the same trailers I've seen you're probably not sure what Joy is even about or if you even want to see it. I mean, it's got a great cast and we've all grown to adore Jennifer Lawrence, especially paired with Bradley Cooper and director David O. Russell. But, the trailers didn't do that stellar of a job explaining just what you'd be watching when dropping the good portion of a 20 dollar bill down, so you may have reservations. But, as far as Christmas movies go-- uplifting, if not a bit vanilla, and harmless... Joy is exactly what you're looking for.
So, without giving too much away, Joy is the true story of entrepreneur Joy Mangano and her rise from divorced, unemployed single mother to mop mogul. Joy lives at home with her mother (Virgina Madsen), a woman who shows serious signs of Agoraphobia and stays in bed all day watching bad Soap Operas, her two children, her ex-husband/still friend (Edgar Ramirez), grandmother (Diane Ladd) and crotchety, womanizing, yet still lovable father (Robert De Niro). Joy, who has been told all her life by her grandmother that she's destined to do something special, in a moment of genius, invents a self-wringing mop. She goes on the long journey to get it sold and try her hardest not to both fail at the one thing she's good at as well as lose every penny she's ever earned. She finally meets up with Neil (Bradley Cooper) head of the QVC network to allow her to attempt to sell her mop on air.
The movie is essentially the story of Joy's rise to greatness amid a ton of forces working to kick her down. She's a fighter and it's nice to watch a story about a strong female character who defies the odds in favor of making herself great. There's no intertwined love story. There's just Joy working her ass off to achieve the American dream and Jeniffer Lawrence plays this to the utmost success. She's a dream to watch and I feel as though she grows as an actress with every role she finds herself playing. She's able to capture every word of the script and provide that spark that shows why she's been on the Oscar ballot for years. And even though there is not a shred of romance between the two of them in this film, her and Bradley Cooper have such an amazing chemistry is nice to be able to watch them work together once again.
The real problem with Joy is that director David O. Russell, who has worked with Lawrence several times (Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle) tries so hard to make a powerful female character role that it comes off as blatantly in your face. There have been films this year with strong female characters that face adversary that are less subtle than Joy in plot, but way more sophisticated in execution (like Star Wars or Brooklyn or Mad Max). Russell wants you to know that Joy is an independent woman who don't need no man by reminding us every scene. As a child, Joy repeats the phrase "I don't need a prince". Her grandmother tells he she doesn't need a man. Her father, again I love De Niro, repeats over and over that he knew she could never make it in the business world and that she's nothing more than an unemployed housewife. There's the strong woman cliche when the woman grows spiritually and metaphorically, they cut their hair in the mirror. It's overwhelmingly in your face trying to say... yo, look... Joy... she a strong chick... aiiiiiight.... just look at everyone around her putting her down... they don't know nothin, dawg! There was a much better way to showcase that Joy was a strong female character... by just telling her story. There was enough adversary outside of sexism that was keeping her down that she overcame just as easily as "you can't do it... you're a woman."
Other than that, I'll have to admit that I liked Joy more than I thought I would. Maybe it was because of the uninformative and strange trailer that kind of detracted me from the film, but it was highly enjoyable. In fact, it was much more enjoyable than a movie about a woman who invented a super mop should've been. It was so enjoyable that it felt kind of like a mini-mafia movie where Joy slowly built her empire and rose to power all because of a mop. I wanted her to succeed and the mop ended up being something bigger than that thing we keep in a closet or the stick with some yarn on it that keeps falling behind the refrigerator. This was her entire livelihood... her entire purpose in life... symbolized by a standard household cleaning device. It became much bigger than just a mop and that portion of the story became the the most interesting.
The acting is great, the story is good, and the writing could've used a few female tweaks (or at the very least, some advice from George Miller) in order to portray the people in Joy's life (whether supporting her or hindering her) as actual characters and not dumb-male caricatures. It's a very inspiring and uplifting story and perfect for that Christmas day venture to the theater. If you can overlook the flaws in the writing of the supporting cast and focus all of your energy on Jennifer Lawrence's performance (especially the scenes with her and Bradley Cooper), then you will have a much more enjoyable film experience.
B-
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