Warm-hearted, inspirational film that will have particular resonance with women of all ages

Rating: 7/10 (8 February 2016)

The story line is based on true life of a female entrepreneur named Joy Mangano, who goes on to invent the retractable mop. While that sounds a tad boring, the movie is so much more than that. It's about finding your calling in life, sticking to your gut even when your life seems to be falling apart and your family creates additional obstacles for you, and following what it is, that you believe in. It is about perseverance. While there are lots of biopics on entrepreneurs, I can't remember seeing one specifically about a female inventor and entrepreneur. What's also refreshing is, it's not treated as a biopic which often have a documentary styled tone that takes itself too seriously, but is treated as a story about a dysfunctional family, where a young woman is struggling to keep it together, with her two young children, divorced husband still living in the basement of her house, her sad, socially withdrawn mother, and her philandering father, all living under the same roof. She is a woman trying to survive, and find that part of her that she had lost, the dreams of her childhood which she lay dormant given the circumstances of her life: shouldering the responsibilities of looking after parents, making a living to support her children, and taking care a house that always seems to fall apart. (i.e. the mundane and all too real responsibilities of adulthood.) Amidst the sacrifices she had made for her family, she had neglected the dreams of her childhood.
What is a David O. Russell movie without the dysfunctional dynamics of a family?! I found the movie had a good balance between showing the tragedy of certain characters and their situations, and punctuating with some lightness. I was actually surprised by the amount of humor that's here, because the trailer gave no indication of any joy in the film. In fact, I had actually joked about the irony of the trailer, where Jennifer Lawrence's character never actually smiled, given the name of the movie. A character in this movie also makes a reference about Joy not being so joyous.
It's also poignant without being too soppy, particularly in the treatment of its female characters. For example, I responded to Joy's mother who seemed to have given up on life, and confined her life to living in her bedroom with her beloved soap operas; choosing to engage with characters from soapbox, than the people around her. Don't we know people like that in real life? Russell infused some outrageous scenes, costumes, and dialogues from Joy's mom's beloved TV soap into the film, to make light of the circumstances.
It was also refreshing to see Joy's relationship with her ex-husband without the drama and hiccups. I thought it was wonderfully done, and I loved the line about being "the best divorced couples". I also appreciated the fact, that her character wasn't romantically entangled with anyone in the movie, and the director made a point about emphasizing that she doesn't need a prince to come rescue here.
See full review: http://www.artspeaksy.com/joy-movie-review/