Great Performance In A Disappointing Film

Rating: 7/10 (3 November 2016)

I knew that Academy Award winner Jennifer Lawrence was nominated for an other Academy Award for her performance in this movie Joy,a biographical film that was loosely based on Joy Mangano,a self-made millionaire who created a business empire from different products that she invented.Personally,I was expecting a good movie especially with Academy Award winner Robert De Niro and Academy Award nominees Bradley Cooper and Virginia Madsen are included in the cast together with Academy Award nominee Diane Ladd acting as grandmother and narrator.But I was completely disappointed.
Joy tells a story of a woman named Joy,who overcame many odds in order to succeed in business.It starts when she was a young child and has formed big ambitions for her life.Then fast forward many years later,we find her a divorced mother of two children who is barely making through her life.She also has parents who are going through an ugly divorce and an older sister Peggy,who tries to humiliate her endlessly especially in front of her children.When Joy was young,she has an inkling into inventing different products.Her grandmother encourages her to pursue her dreams in business and finds a way to become successful amidst many setbacks that she initially had to overcome.
The journey of Joy to becoming a successful woman could have been told in a better way by director/screenwriter David O. Russell.Too bad that we are treated into a clichéd and predictable story that was too simplistic.The theme of having a woman go through different odds like experiencing many odds and setbacks in establishing her empire could have been told with more emotion but too bad the intensity and the passion wasn't even there.The story of Joy's passion of inventing different type of products that aren't considered mainstream isn't there at all.So was her determination.Obviously,there was a lack of depth in the Russell's screenplay.Apparently,Russell did not really discuss the project with Joy Mangano.That is why I felt that he is even at a lost in telling her story.
Jennifer Lawrence did well in her performance that she did deserve an Academy Award nomination.Too bad that she was in a disappointing movie and her performance alone could not save it.A total miscast indeed.