Saturday, January 2, 2016

Joy (2015)

Disappointing David O Russell film  feel as though it was lifted in a mix and match film from several other recent films from the director , in particular SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK.

Based on the life of Joy Mangano the film follows the life and times of a young woman who invents a new kind of mop. We watch as her fortunes rise and the effects it has on her family.

I was lost almost from the get go with it's this is the story of my granddaughter telling which leads into a sequence of Joy trying to get to work only to have her errant father return hope and trash the house. The look and feel was much too much like SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK to the extent that I kind of felt this was a sequel. The telling also results in a kind of magical realism which makes the whole thing feel kind of like its a rah rah feel good film two hours before it's earned it. Similarly the opening statement about this being inspired by a lot of women adds a sense of this being artificially constructed rather than it's organic.

Weird touches kept me from ever connecting something best explained by the weird dream & soap opera sequences as well as Isabella Rosselini's performance as a woman who, dates Robert DeNiro and stakes Joy's company. What planet did she come in from and who did her make up because she looks very very silly

Who did they make this film for? I'm not sure. The film feels like its a weird cross between an infomercial and a Lifetime original movie but cast with A list actors.

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