Flawed but generally very good.

Rating: 7/10 (23 December 2015)

Despite thankfully never quite feeling like Oscar bait, David O Russel's Joy feels like a movie that's trying just a fraction too hard to please. It doesn't fall over at any of the hurdles biopics usually do, but it manages to create a few problems of its - ones that could have been easily avoided with a slightly changed script.
The films biggest asset is obvious - Jennifer Lawrence. She's lauded from nearly every corner for her passionate and committed performances and once again she gives a brilliant performance here, albeit one different from how it's portrayed in the trailers - this is not a huge, operatic performance like in Silver Linings Playbook. No, this is a much quieter performance, one that finds subtlety where another actor could have found histrionic fits. It's compelling stuff, and the best performance I think she's yet put to screen.
Alas the film doesn't quite manage to frame this performance as well as it could have. The chief problem lies with the writing of the rest of her family - the bittersweet drama of family has been a central theme of David O. Russell's work since he first started making movies, but here it just feels a tad over the mark. Joy's family mostly seem like horrible people in this movie, and whether that's true to life or not it doesn't work in the context of this movie. The contrast between Joy and her family is too stark, and comes off false. More depth needed to be written into this supporting cast.
The script otherwise is as witty and sparkling as the rest of Russel's work, and features some great performances outside of Lawrence. Dascha Polenka is proving to be an incredibly warm on screen presence, and despite their characters falling into the aforementioned trap of being slightly too nasty, Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro are both reliably compelling and interesting. The final 45 minutes, too, are a big asset - they're the most entertaining portion of the movie, as the plot shifts into fifth gear and an air of desperation (and later, glorious triumph) sets in.
Verdict? Not quite the sum of its parts, but very entertaining and an easy Oscar contender in many areas.