The Name of the Movie, and the Feeling of Watching It

Rating: 8/10 (27 September 2016)

The newest venture between Jennifer Lawrence, David O. Russell, Bradley Cooper, and Robert De Niro hasn't been given the same love as past films such as "Silver Lining Playbook," and "American Hustle." The story is partially based on the real life entrepreneur Joy Mangano, but many of the characters are changed or invented, and the struggles of Mangano are sometimes supplemented by other women's struggles and life stories. While the film doesn't have the same polished, straight forward feel of its predecessor, or the desperate neediness of "Silver Linings", it balances its elements well and is a strange yet satisfying watch.
While past collaborations between this dream team have yielded multiple acting and creative nominations, Lawrence received the sole nomination in her turn as Mangano. It's clear that the film deserved that one, but none other. Up against such heavyweights as "Spotlight," and "The Revenant," "Joy" didn't have much of a chance of Best Director, Screenplay, or Cinematography. Maybe Costuming should have come into it, but the nominations looked pretty solid, and with "Mad Max's" unprecedented win, it's easy to see why "Joy" didn't get much love. Lawrence's performance was really what was holding the film together, but otherwise there wasn't anything truly extraordinary about this film, and it definitely didn't deserve kudos. Brie Larson rightly won for "Room," but if Lawrence had taken home the gold I wouldn't have been all that shocked. For the first part of the film everything feels a bit disjointed and confused. Mangano's family is a mishmash of her divorced parents (De Niro and Madsen), who can't seem to get along, her children, her Venezuelan husband (Ramirez) who doesn't work enough and lives in her basement, and her grandmother (Ladd), who also narrates. Though all these characters make a great impression and add eccentricity and flavor to a straight forward success story, they clog up the screen at times with their neuroses and flabbergasting weirdness. If some of these characters had been toned down, other more interesting ones could have been better explored. Joy and her father have this complicated relationship, which seems to be tense at all times, further made rigid by Joy's half-sister Peggy (Rohm). This relationship is never truly explored, past seeing Mr. Mangano give a terrible speech at Joy's wedding. Later in the film he adds to her angst by moving in with her, and becomes her biggest critic, though again it's unclear why. If that had been explored well it would have added something truly real and interesting to a story that feels dated.
When the film deals straight on with Joy's story of adversity and bankruptcy in the face of her ingenuity and chutzpah, it gains its footing. The last half is inspirational, interesting, and uplifting. Mangano really went above and beyond what any person would do and saved herself and her family single-handedly. Movies like this, that show women succeeding in a world that only wants to break them down into bite sized pieces, need to be made. They don't garner as much praise, or make all the money at the box office, but they inspire the next generation of female filmmakers, and people in general.