I’m not
sure if I’ve been less impressed with David O. Russell’s most recent work or
if, for me, his films follow a law of diminishing returns. Because, in my view, The Fighter > Silver
Linings Playbook > American Hustle
> Joy. Now, the margin on those first three are
fairly close, but overall, I thought Joy
was just all right.
Joy
epitomizes “life of quiet desperation,” or at least, she would if it weren’t
for the “quiet” part. She’s been
languishing in a dead-end job while raising two children, taking care of her
delicate mother, putting up with her directionless ex-husband, and wrangling
her obstinate father. However, the
creative spark within her hasn’t died, and Joy sets out to change her
circumstances by making and marketing a revolutionary new mop of her own
invention, attacking every hurdle she meets along the way.
I
wouldn’t say it’s a bad movie, not at all.
Certain aspects of it are pretty great – I really like seeing Joy’s
initial conception of the Miracle Mop and her refusal to accept defeat in the
face of her many obstacles (including members of her family constantly
undermining her business decisions or telling her she can’t do it – gems, the
lot of them.) The main relationships
between Joy and the characters who are actually supportive of her – chiefly,
her grandmother Mimi, her best friend Jackie, and her ex-husband Tony – are
really enjoyable to watch, and the depiction of the early days of home shopping
programs is fun.
That
said, I definitely get bogged down by the unpleasantness of most of the other
characters in Joy’s life. Their
relentless negativity bothers me, especially since Joy is the only one of them
trying to accomplish something; they’re not doing anything, so they don’t have
much room to talk. I get that a
character needs to struggle before she can succeed, but by the umpteenth scene
of Joy’s dad, mom, or sister blaming her for all their problems without
suggesting any solutions of their own, I was awfully fed up. Additionally, the script feels a bit too
on-the-nose sometimes – too much telling, not enough showing.
Jennifer
Lawrence does well as the “down but not out” Joy, carrying the film with steely
grit. I have to say though, that to me,
she feels too young for the role. I’m
also not sure I’d necessarily call the performance one of the top five for
leading actresses this year; I think Lawrence may be on her way to the Streep
treatment of being a regular nominee most years that she’s in even a vaguely
Oscar-ish movie. (Don’t get me wrong –
she’s reliably good, but I probably would’ve given her nomination slot to
Charlize Theron for Mad Max: Fury Road.) The film also features Russell faves Robert
De Niro and Bradley Cooper, along with Isabella Rossellini, Virginia Madsen,
Dascha Polanco (Daya from Orange is the
New Black) as Jackie, and Jimmy Jean-Louis (the Haitian from Heroes.)
I’m not familiar with Édgar Ramírez, who plays Tony, but I like him a
lot here.
Warnings
Swearing
and some drinking.
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