Monday, February 22, 2016

Review of JOY: Melodrama About a Mop

February 22, 2016



"Joy" is yet another collaboration of writer/director David O. Russell with two of his favorite actors: Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. First, they got together on "Silver Linings Playbook" in 2012, then again in "American Hustle" in 2013. Both of these projects were showered with Oscar nominations, 8 for "Playbook" and 10 for "Hustle", both with nods for Russell, Lawrence and Cooper. Jennifer Lawrence won the Oscar for Best Lead Actress in "Playbook". 

In contrast, the Oscar prospects of Russell's newest film "Joy" have been limited to just one nomination-- Jennifer Lawrence for Best Lead Actress. Gone was his remarkable achievement of earning nominations in all four acting categories as well as in the top five categories achieved by "Playbook" and "Hustle". This dearth of nominations warned me that I should not really expect too much for this one, despite the fine pedigree it possessed.

Joy is a big dreamer since she was a little girl. However, her real life is anything but a dream as she remained mired in poverty, a failed marriage and divorced parents. One day, she gets an inspiration to invent a self-wringing mop. Getting her idea off the ground though was a nightmarish maze of contracts and debts. Her fortunes seemed to turn though when she gets the opportunity to market her mop on the home tv shopping network. Could this be Joy's way out of the deep hole she has been in her whole adult life?

Jennifer Lawrence is still the best aspect of this film, and really did her best to lift and carry this film through. However she unfortunately had to contend with such limiting and joyless material. Bradley Cooper played Neil Walker, a home TV shopping executive who took a chance on Joy's idea. However, the way their screen partnership here was written in a way that fails to take advantage of their proven chemistry with each other. 

Robert de Niro played yet another eccentric dad Rudy in another typical performance. He was competent as could be expected, but not outstanding. The charmless character of the half-sister Peggy (Elisabeth Rohm) was especially annoying, as was the aimlessly weird characterization of Joy's mother Terry (Virginia Madsen). Having Diane Ladd to play Joy's grandmother was totally wasted.

At least Isabella Rosselini provided some strength of character as Trudy, Rudy's wealthy girlfriend and Joy's investor. Venezuelan actor Edgar Ramirez played Joy's ex-husband and best friend Tony. Too bad we do not really get to know either of these two characters better. They could have dropped some unnecessarily long scenes to spend more time on these two more interesting characters. 

The main problem of this film was that it revolved around the lead character's problem about her innovative MOP! You really feel the stretching done to make such a simple plot into its two-hour running time. There were so many subplots inserted in to prolong and complicate matters. The slowness of the build-up suddenly switched into overdrive towards the end. The final twenty minutes crammed in so many other matters in such a haphazardly rapid manner, rushing through her actual financial ascent. 

The direction of Russell was not so astute this time, resulting in an uncharacteristically messy, uninspirational production. 5/10.



22 comments:

  1. I am not sure I want to see this one in the theatre or not. I really enjoy Jennifer Lawrence and Robert de Niro in any role though, so it might be worth a shot. Chick flick for sure, LOL

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  2. I like Jennifer Lawrence and Robert de Niro but I'm not much into melodrama. I'd probably pass the opportunity to watch this one.

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  3. That's too bad. I was really expecting a lot from this mix of characters and the nomination. Better watch the previous films instead.

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  4. I like Jennifer Lawrence and Robert De Niro, but really, the plot is all about a mop? I don't think that's exciting at all and I'd rather wait for this to come out on netflix or something.

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  5. I would watch this just because of Jennifer Lawrence. Too bad that there were a lot of holes in the story.

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  6. this seems a good movie.. i better check it once i have time. :)

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  7. I am a fan of JLaw and I have been anticipating for this film. Thanks for the review. I will watch this movie on the weekends.

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  8. I am not keen to watch this. May be will catch up on the TV some day.

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  9. Only 5 out of 10, will skip this movie. I trust your review. If you give low rating then no point i spend my time & money unless i really like the particular actor or actress. For this I can give it a miss. Thanks for the review.

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  10. totally skipped this movie. the plot is too simple and dry to attract me. 5 out of 10 fits my perception of this movie as well.

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  11. My favorite actress is back, will catch this movie because i just love Jennifer Lawrence! Whether the movie is bad or good, as long there's Jen, im cool with it lol.

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  12. I'm gonna watch this one, a lot of people have been recommending this movie in my friend crcle! I love Jennifer Lawrence!

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  13. I've heard of this movie but I haven't seen it yet. I'll give it a try. I'm a fan of Bradley Cooper's movies. Same applies with Robert DeNiro. Thanks for sharing this review.

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  14. I was contemplating on this show because of the casts. Expecting more from JLaw + DeNiro + BradCooper. Plus the title's cool too! Oh well, maybe I'll just wait for the DVD.

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  15. Too bad there were fall through, flat moments. I saw another movie w/Bradley Cooper recently, my first (Emma Stone was in it, but I can't remember the name) and I really liked him!

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  16. Though the leads are my favorite actors, I don't think I even like the story...

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  17. I love the lead actors in this movie but wait, is the movie really about a mop? How innovative can a mop be???

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  18. I might not hit the theatre to watch this one but will love to watch this once may be at home.

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  19. Hmmm..it has a bad rating. I wonder how will this affect Jennifer Lawrence career.

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  20. It's sad when American movies try to overconceptualize. This movie seems like it was unfortunately planned. :(

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  21. I've been wanting to watch this, but never managed to. I didn't know it was that bad. It's Jennifer Lawrence afterall!

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