Garbage

Rating: 1/10 (7 May 2016)

This movie is complete and utter garbage.
This "true story" is completely fabricated and faker than the soap opera scenes that intersperse this movie. What's worse is the director knew he was making a garbage film but because it contained two stars he worked with in American Hustle he just kept throwing in references to other, superior films, such as Taxi Drive and Citizen Kane.
There is so much here that violates the laws of the suspension of disbelief, for instance, somehow the restroom has a secret door blocked by a few boxes that lead into the main manufacturing plant that holds the smoking gun that Joy's plans are being stolen.
Joy has to hire a plumber and then suddenly her bed-ridden mom who only watches soap operas is cavorting around the house with the Haitian plumber offering bowls of soup to Joy. For no reason. They just interrupt the scene.
Everything about this film is stupid and insulting. There are B-movies made in the 1950s that have more integrity and artistic merit. This whole film is a sell-out on the highest order and a class action lawsuit should be filed so that people who paid actual money to see this disaster could get some compensation.
There are many times where I, as the viewer, wished that Jenifer Lawrence had a bow and arrow and could go Katniss Everdeen on the rest of the characters.
Bradley Cooper seemed like he was reciting lines in a hypnotic trance. In fact, the whole cast seemed as if they were under some somnambulist's spell, robotically reciting lines that had been poured into their heads by some careless programmer, ambivalent of how his automatons performed. As if by some government worker who would get paid regardless of the quality of his work.
There is nothing redeeming here. There is no quality. There is no charm. Everyone was tasked to do a job and no matter how bad it was, they were just going to get through.