Strange, witty story. Sparkles brightly. Jennifer Lawrence is lovely chaotic as usual...

Rating: 8/10 (26 April 2018)

Director David O Russel made a sparkling bright movie about an ordinary selfwringing mob. In between this invention story Jennifer Lawrence has to endure the constant bickering fights of her family, who is somewhat weird, to say the least. But she receives a lot of love and support as well from them.
"Joy" sparkles so brightly, despite being such an unromantic story. It still has got a christmas feel good touch to it near the end, although it has nothing to do with a regular christmas movie. What matters most though is that Jennifer Lawrence really comes to life as a character in this selfmade succes story. Jennifer really shines. She is so endearing and loveable. Jennifer carries this movie.
All the actors deserve praise though. Just like in ANY David O Russel movie. David O Russel knows that a movie will succeed or fail with the right choice of actors. And he knows how to direct them. That is where the David O Russel's magic becomes visible. He knows how to direct these actors in a way that a dead end story about a selfwringing mob can become a glorious and witty succes story. Very loveable. Not as great as "Silver Lining Playbook" and not as great as "American Hustle", because there is no real romance in this flick. The bond with friends, family and with work is the substitute for the usual romance found in other O Russel movies. It works out fine though, but I wont give it the huge praise other O Russel movies did get. Although "Joy" has become a gem that I CHERISH, because of the rather unusual story and because of the ever present magic charm of David O Russel!