Joy-ful-ish......

Rating: 6/10 (22 April 2016)

The titular character founds a dynasty on the invention of a mop and becomes an overnight roaring success
Betrayal, treachery, the loss of innocence and the scars of love, pave the road to becoming a true leader of family and enterprise when facing a world of unforgiving commerce.
Allies become adversaries and vice versa, both inside and outside the family, as her inner life and fierce imagination carry her through the storm she faces.......
Well if the film tells you anything or gives you any metaphorical message, it's that don't stop dreaming, don't stop believing in yourself, because if Jennifer Lawrence can carry this awfully strange movie, you'll be a success too.
And it's one weird movie to get through, it's as if Time Burton and David Cronenberg have been given one of the most pointless success stories and have been advised to glam it up a little.
If it wasn't for the downright bizarre imagery, settings and some really good performances, this could have gone right down the toilet for O'Russell.
I mean fair enough, a story about a girl inventing a mop that turns her into a success doesn't sound like the stuff of Hollywood dreams, so kudos to the makers for making the sub characters just so wonderfully bizarre.
Madsen is at her most strangest here as the mother with whom she has some bizarre interaction with the TV every so often.
De Niro turns up to show give viewers an antidote to Dirty Grandpa, and proves he still can put in a good performance, even when the film is bonkers.
Cooper is easily the best thing about the film, a shark from the beginning, he gives Joy her joy, and believes in her and her morals.
Lawrence is good, but she rarely changes her facial expressions through the film, she has but too, perplexed and bewildered. She puts in a decent turn, but I needed more physical emotion.
It will divide a lot of people, because it's so oddly bizarre when it doesn't have to be, but when a film about a mop inventor isn't in the least bit boring, the makers must be doing something right.