***1/2

Rating: 9/10 (18 October 2016)

When I first started watching the movie, I thought I had finally found the most dysfunctional family on record. Joy and her father are both divorced, but their mates are living in the basement.
I was completely wrong how this picture turned out. It developed into an interesting plot where Joy, an inventor with an inquisitive mind, develops a very special mop and it shows the trials and tribulations of what she goes through to get the mop manufactured. The business family takes up her cause and she seems to face never ending obstacles, getting it manufactured, fighting with someone who has a patent claiming it's similar to what he has made, thieves in business that you can't believe, all this occurring while she is tending her nutty family, led by dad Robert de Niro, whose second wife has thrown him out.
It's a story of aspirations with very hard luck and ultimate success. As joy, Jennifer Lawrence is excellent and well deserved her Oscar nomination.
As the Italian widow, who takes up with dad De Niro, Isabella Rosselini was excellent in the part. She is not just a widow with tons of money, she was also a smart and alert business lady who knew how to handle her money.