Like all David O.Russell movies, too much character focus and not enough plot

Rating: 4/10 (23 March 2016)

Joy is based on the true story about Joy Mangano who designed amongst else the Miracle Mop. David O. Russell is directing, and as always he has gathered his usual group of band of brothers, Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro. Joy, played by Lawrence, is a young woman who is forced to take care of her ungrateful family as they expect her to do everything for them. When she one day comes up with the idea of making a mop that wrings itself, she goes to her father, Robert De Niro, for help to create a business.
Joy is unfortunately a pretty boring movie. The idea of a woman who becomes an entrepreneur and creates her own business empire, is very interesting but O. Russell throws it all away on strange side stories, such as her father and his demanding girlfriend, a strange TV guy who apparently doesn't know how to sell things despite it being his job. There's also the jealous sister and their strange mother who does nothing else but watch soap operas all day long. If O. Russell really wanted to tell a great story about a successful woman he should have toned down the side characters substantially and focused more on Lawrence's character as a struggling mother and entrepreneur. We get that the family is weighing her down after about 10 minutes into the film, but O. Russell continues to go on and on about it through the entire film.
The film is almost exactly 2 hours and it feels way too long. A film like Joy, should be able to stress for 2 hours and still feel interesting. That is if the script had been more interesting. I also really think that O. Russell needs to mix up his choice of actors. To see Lawrence in yet another role she looks way too young to play and De Niro with Cooper in strange supporting roles, are just tiresome. It feels like I'm watching the same film over and over again. Don't get me wrong, director and actor collaborations can work. Just look at John Wayne and John Ford, or Leonardo DiCaprio with Martin Scorsese. But if so, the director and the actors must show more range or stick to a winning concept. That's not the case with O. Russell's latest movies. The thing he does well is choose great music, costumes and production design, but what good does that do when the movie itself is boring. Too bad, because the story about Joy is interesting. I grade it a four.
David - Filmografen