Film Review: Joy

Joy (2015)

Director: David O. Russell

Writers: Annie Mumolo, David O. Russell

Producers: John Davis, Megan Ellison, Jonathan Gordon, Ken Mok, David O. Russell

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Édgar Ramìrez, Diane Ladd, Dascha Polanco, Elisabeth Röhm, Virginia Madsen, Isabella Rossellini, Bradley Cooper

Running time: 2h 4m

            David O. Russell’s Joy is the story of pain, resilience, and, most unfortunately: a mop.  Because of the film’s almost intriguingly mundane content, the film is driven by it’s protagonist, Joy, played brilliantly by Jennifer Lawrence, the sole caretaker of her demanding family and stifled creative genius. Driven to unemployment and near insanity by her father’s reemergence and general bad luck, Joy returns to her creative instincts to save herself and achieve the destiny that Mimi (Diane Ladd), her grandmother and the film’s narrator, always thought was meant for her. After cutting herself on some glass while cleaning up one of her father’s more literal messes, Joy runs for her daughter’s crayons to create plans for a self-ringing mop that would come to revolutionize home cleaning. Joy, amongst some complication with her meddling family, works out a patent and supply-chain system and tries to sell her mop on a small scale on her own but finds no luck until her ex-husband, Tony (Èdgar Ramírez), sets her up with a meeting with a friend a QVC. Just as with everything else in the film, Joy is faced with initial rejection until she is able to simultaneously demand and earn the recognition of her worth. Joy turns to her father, Rudy (Robert De Niro) to bankroll her new venture by way of his wealthy but imperious new girlfriend, Trudy (Isabella Rossellini) with the promise of selling 50,000 new mops on television. Accidentally sabotaged by an incapable salesman, the mop’s debut fails on QVC and Joy is left with nothing but debt, resentment from her family and 50,000 self-ringing mops. So Joy redeems herself with the most important thing that was missing from the sales pitch: herself. Joy’s charm and authenticity find her great success on QVC until her production is halted by a dubious supplier and interference from her jealous half-sister, Peggy (Elisabeth Röhm). In one last scene of redemption, Joy secures her business and her status as matriarch. All of this exposition leads up to a still image, seen on the film’s poster, with her head thrown back, looking up to gentle snowflakes falling on her strong and secure expression that encapsulates the spirit of the entire film.

Her circumstances paint her as a modern-day Cinderella: overlooked, undervalued and tasked with the chores of unworthy narcissists. As this feminist anthem requires, Joy is not saved by a prince but instead by her own craftiness and daring. However, Russell does taunt viewers with the indulgence of a handsome prince looking to save the day with the peanut-butter smooth QVC executive Neil Walker, suggestively played by Bradley Cooper, who recognizes Joy’s potential. Anyone who has seen a David O. Russell film knows exactly how sexy things are about to get when Cooper comes around. But it is precisely her Cinderella-storybook character in this not-quite-Cinderella story that makes this film so disorienting. Russell seems unconcerned with realism, casting a clean and elegant 25-year-old as a what should by all accounts be a tired and downtrodden single mother. Sometimes Joy’s glamour is just downright unbelievable. Following one of the most devastating scenes of the film, Joy cuts off all her hair in a moment of frustration and wakes up with a salon-perfect bob. While this story may seem like the all-American rags-to-riches tale, it’s protagonist consistently looks more like a princess cast under a horrible spell than a middle-class everywoman. But Joy feels more like a pastiche than a parody of the Horatio Alger-style success story with a feminist lens. Traditional elements like the linear narrative with clean time shifts and voice-over narration maintain the genuine and charming effect while exploring new themes in the content.

The unapologetic lack of romance is refreshing, especially in a story following a woman. Her male counterparts, Edgar and Neil, participate in rather than define her identity and success. Some scenes hint at a spark between Joy and Neil or a reigniting between the two exes, but these suggestions are gone as quickly as they come. In usual fashion, Russell turns the romance-drama on it’s head, all the external romances peel away and leave only the saga between Joy and her own creativity.

The story is boring but nothing ever stops moving: the dialogue, the characters and even the camera itself lives in constant unrest. The effect of the cinematography is dizzying and at times frustrating, you find yourself feeling overwhelmed and fed up with certain characters and experiences in the same way Joy herself would have felt. Making a movie about next to nothing was a bold move for Russell, but he pulls it off with refreshing loyalty to the development of a strong and complicated female lead.