Joy - directed by David O. Russell
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Edgar Ramirez, Robert DeNiro, Diane Ladd, Virginia Madsen, Isabella Rossellini, Dascha Polanco, Elisabeth Rohm, Susan Lucci, Ken Howard
Running Time: 124 minutes
Rated: M - Language - pretty mild
To some of my movie loving friends my opinion that David O. Russell is one of the most overrated filmmakers of our time is utter heresy.
For some reason unfathomable to me he is regarded highly enough to be included in discussions year upon year during awards season alongside names such as Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Alfonso Cuaron and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.
As much as I love "Silver Linings Playbook" and like "Flirting With Disaster" and "The Fighter" I don't see any of his other films as being anything more than perfectly fine at best and pretentious drivel at worst.
But actors seem to love him and so by virtue of the fact that the likes of Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Robert DeNiro, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence constantly work with him I tend to end up seeing his films.
It was the latter who recently stated that she would be happy to work with Russell until it is no longer possible (source)
And as a big fan of Lawrence that means that I will be seeing more of his films it would appear.
After "Joy" that is less appealing than I would prefer.
"Joy" finds Russell in his offbeat mode.
(When I write 'offbeat' in this case you can read it as 'pretentious')
That means that we have narration from an unusual character, quirky (for want of a better word) dialogue and a very, very strange plot.
In this case it is the apparently based on the truth story of the woman who invented the miracle mop.
It's a rags to riches story of the little guy with a big idea and everything and everyone that gets in her way.
This sort of stuff has been done great service in the past with everything from the massively underrated "Tucker: The Man and His Dream" to Scorsese's masterful "The Aviator".
The issue with "Joy" that stops it being remotely as enjoyable as either of those is that there really isn't a lot of plot here.
The issues that test Joy on her way to a better life are considerably less compelling than conspiracy, severe mental illness or Governmental interference.
Of course I cannot go too deeply into the details for fear of giving too much away and that in fact serves to highlight exactly how little meat there is on this particular bone.
"Joy" is horribly short on plot and cripplingly lacking in characters worth getting behind.
Were she not being played by the impossible-not-to-love Jennifer Lawrence I doubt that the titular character would generate a jot of sympathy at all.
It's not that she's unlikeable or that her goal in life is not worth pursuing - it's just that Russell sets such an odd tone right from the first frame that the effect is to distance events from the audience way too much.
Bafflingly Russell opens the film with a low grade soap opera playing out on the tv of Joy's house-ridden (and often bedridden) Mother Terry.
It goes on long enough that I could sense a "What the hell is this crap" vibe from the audience around me.
This fake tv show will feature frequently throughout the film for no good reason at all.
Likewise the odd traits of her Father Rudy (DeNiro) and his new, rich girlfriend Trudy (Rossellini) seem to exist purely to add some flavour to a story otherwise deeply in need of something resembling substance.
Ex husband Tony (Edgar Ramirez) lives in Joy's basement and seems to exist again purely as some sort of filler material.
Of course Lawrence is great and flatters the weak material with a performance that draws charisma and charm from out of nowhere.
But it isn't nearly enough to save "Joy".
This is one of the most frustrating movies that I have seen this year.
It is loaded with great actors, all of whom apart from Lawrence are completely wasted and a plot that appears to be about to ignite several times only to fizzle out until the sudden and highly unsatisfying finale.
A constant stream of bizarre decisions (the soap opera thing is merely the worst) including a narration that falls flat and at one point resorts to repetition to try to generate interest sinks this movie at every turn.
It lacks focus and doesn't know if it wants to be a moving drama, an historical biopic or a flat out comedy.
At various times it shoots for all of these and misses all but a scant few times.
I'd love to have been a fly on the wall at the pitch meetings for this one.
It's almost as if Russell realised that there wasn't a compelling tale to be told so he just threw Jennifer Lawrence at it, cranked up the weirdness and phoned a bunch of Academy members and said 'Cough... Oscar... cough... Jennifer Lawrence... cough'.
If the plan works I may give up watching the Academy Awards.
RATING: 64/ 100
CONCLUSION: A dull mess that tries to use an offbeat tone as a substitute for substance and fails miserably.
Running Time: 124 minutes
Rated: M - Language - pretty mild
To some of my movie loving friends my opinion that David O. Russell is one of the most overrated filmmakers of our time is utter heresy.
For some reason unfathomable to me he is regarded highly enough to be included in discussions year upon year during awards season alongside names such as Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Alfonso Cuaron and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.
As much as I love "Silver Linings Playbook" and like "Flirting With Disaster" and "The Fighter" I don't see any of his other films as being anything more than perfectly fine at best and pretentious drivel at worst.
But actors seem to love him and so by virtue of the fact that the likes of Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Robert DeNiro, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence constantly work with him I tend to end up seeing his films.
It was the latter who recently stated that she would be happy to work with Russell until it is no longer possible (source)
And as a big fan of Lawrence that means that I will be seeing more of his films it would appear.
After "Joy" that is less appealing than I would prefer.
"Joy" finds Russell in his offbeat mode.
(When I write 'offbeat' in this case you can read it as 'pretentious')
That means that we have narration from an unusual character, quirky (for want of a better word) dialogue and a very, very strange plot.
In this case it is the apparently based on the truth story of the woman who invented the miracle mop.
It's a rags to riches story of the little guy with a big idea and everything and everyone that gets in her way.
This sort of stuff has been done great service in the past with everything from the massively underrated "Tucker: The Man and His Dream" to Scorsese's masterful "The Aviator".
The issue with "Joy" that stops it being remotely as enjoyable as either of those is that there really isn't a lot of plot here.
The issues that test Joy on her way to a better life are considerably less compelling than conspiracy, severe mental illness or Governmental interference.
Of course I cannot go too deeply into the details for fear of giving too much away and that in fact serves to highlight exactly how little meat there is on this particular bone.
"Joy" is horribly short on plot and cripplingly lacking in characters worth getting behind.
 |
| The usual David O. Russell cast including Robert DeNiro, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence can't save this one |
It's not that she's unlikeable or that her goal in life is not worth pursuing - it's just that Russell sets such an odd tone right from the first frame that the effect is to distance events from the audience way too much.
Bafflingly Russell opens the film with a low grade soap opera playing out on the tv of Joy's house-ridden (and often bedridden) Mother Terry.
It goes on long enough that I could sense a "What the hell is this crap" vibe from the audience around me.
This fake tv show will feature frequently throughout the film for no good reason at all.
Likewise the odd traits of her Father Rudy (DeNiro) and his new, rich girlfriend Trudy (Rossellini) seem to exist purely to add some flavour to a story otherwise deeply in need of something resembling substance.
Ex husband Tony (Edgar Ramirez) lives in Joy's basement and seems to exist again purely as some sort of filler material.
Of course Lawrence is great and flatters the weak material with a performance that draws charisma and charm from out of nowhere.
But it isn't nearly enough to save "Joy".
This is one of the most frustrating movies that I have seen this year.
 |
| The real Joy Mangano |
A constant stream of bizarre decisions (the soap opera thing is merely the worst) including a narration that falls flat and at one point resorts to repetition to try to generate interest sinks this movie at every turn.
It lacks focus and doesn't know if it wants to be a moving drama, an historical biopic or a flat out comedy.
At various times it shoots for all of these and misses all but a scant few times.
I'd love to have been a fly on the wall at the pitch meetings for this one.
It's almost as if Russell realised that there wasn't a compelling tale to be told so he just threw Jennifer Lawrence at it, cranked up the weirdness and phoned a bunch of Academy members and said 'Cough... Oscar... cough... Jennifer Lawrence... cough'.
If the plan works I may give up watching the Academy Awards.
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