Not much joy to be found in ‘Joy’

By Ryan, February 12, 2016

By Liz Reichart // A&E Editor

Oftentimes I find myself wondering when the right side of David O’Russell’s brain has time to rest. As a director, screenwriter and producer, his renowned films “The Fighter,” “Silver Linings Playbook” and “American Hustle” all won Golden Globes and Academy Awards in the past six years. That’s one very enchanting, very human film every two years.
O’Russell is likewise known for keeping a very talented, very tiny posse of actors from which he casts his roles. You may recognize names like Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Lawrence as part of his star power force. Rarely does he cast from outside this inner circle, giving his films a thread of continuity without making them repetitive. The whole setup has simply enchanted critics and viewers alike in recent years as evidenced in glowing reviews, substantial box office numbers and multiple individual nominations for the adored actors and actresses he pulls.
The visionary’s latest film, “Joy” stars America’s outspoken sweetheart, Jennifer Lawrence as Joy Mangano, who struggles to balance the many challenges of being a divorced mother. The film is based on the true story of entrepreneur Joy Mangano, who in an authentic David O’Russell fashion, served as a producer on the film.
With young children and ailing parents, Joy is a matriarch tripping over herself. Her ex-husband still lives in her house, which structurally threatens to fall apart at the seams. Symbolically, so too is Joy plugging the leaks in her own life throughout the film, trying desperately to keep her head above water. But Joy has always been the innovator and decides one day to pursue the manufacture and sale of one of her creations, the Miracle Mop- a self-wringing mop Mangano drew up herself from her daughters’ crayons and drafting paper. From there, the plot is a continuous cycle of relentless pursuit, emotional turmoil and Mangano just trying to realize her potential in the process of trying to realize an audience for this product.
“Joy” is David O’Russell allowing the right side of his brain to rest. For a film that promised great ambition, viewers are only treated to a skeleton of ideas that O’Russell had failed to flesh out. Disjointed in too many areas, “Joy” was unsatisfying and awkward, trying to push out too many big ideas with not enough substance.
For a film entitled “Joy,” there was very little happiness in it. Rather, the film was a struggle in the pursuit of joy, the audience being dragged along with Joy’s drive. Chalk full of dizzying camera action, the film is meant to make you feel like you’re living this whirlwind with Mangano. The sensory of it all is overwhelming rather than stimulating. However, the film comes right back down to earth with a dazzling performance by Lawrence. As fierce and simultaneously endearing as ever, Lawrence was the performance this film needed to prevent itself from falling into being overlookable. O’Russell obviously wrote this script as an ode to the actress, giving her two hours of eloquent opportunities to be both pithy and precocious. You better be a Jennifer Lawrence fan to see this movie, because it’s essentially a “JLaw” marathon, begging itself to be nominated for some prestigious award at every enraged line she spits out. Barely a moment passes without her lighting up the screen. She is, no doubt, the perfect choice to play this entrepreneur’s rise to eventual success. O’Russell deserves the credit for that casting choice, as if there were any other actresses in his tight-knit ring he could have chosen from.
“Don’t ever think that the world owes you anything, because it doesn’t owe you a thing,” Mangano said in the film.
True as this may be, at the very least David O’Russell owes us a film where his big ideas are executed to their fullest.