I'm in trouble again

Rating: 7/10 (30 December 2015)

I guess I'll be in trouble for liking this film, directed by David O. Russell and starring Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Robert de Niro, Virginia Madsen, Elizabeth Rohm, Diane Ladd, and Isabella Rossellini.
I wanted to see this film for several reasons. First, I liked American Hustle and Silver Linings Playbook, with the same star actors and directed by Russell.
Secondly, we have Joy's Huggable Hangers, and I have a friend who owns all of her products.
Third, I run a website for the soap opera General Hospital, and three of the actors are in the film...playing soap actors.
This is her story, and to me anyway, it's an impressive one. When the story opens, she's a divorced mother of two with her ex-husband living in the basement, and she works for an airline. Her mother stays in her room all day watching soap operas, a father who has just moved in with her, and she has a grandmother who thinks Joy is going to achieve great things.
It's the story of somebody coming from nothing and creating great success, the underdog who gets the American dream against all odds.
Jennifer Lawrence is such a likable and pretty actress, it's no wonder she constantly captivates her audience. She rings true as a harried mother in a house that's falling around her and a father that loses his temper and breaks things. When Joy faces defeat, you really feel for her.
Right now, she's the ingénue of the month, as once Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts, Gwenyth Paltrow, Rene Zwelleger, Anne Hathaway, etc. - in everything. The question is, can she grow into leading lady roles? I think so. We won't see her as much as we will be seeing Bradley Cooper, he being a man, but she'll be around.
Bradley Cooper is another one, one of the most likable actors ever. His character runs his business with a velvet glove rather than an iron fist - he's not a screaming bombastic man, but he knows what he wants and demands it.
The rest of the cast all turned in fine performances, with Isabella Rossellini as her father Pat's (de Niro's) girlfriend.
Entertaining and also inspiring, this is a sweet film with no CGI, no nudity, and no profanity. No wonder people hate it.
This isn't Citizen Kane, it isn't Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It's a simple, sometimes sentimental story of a woman who never gave up.