Joy proves that both Jennifer Lawrence and David O. Russell have lost their touch.

Rating: 4/10 (27 December 2015)

Joy tells the story of a strong willed woman or, as our narrator concludes, the film is about all strong women everywhere. We are introduced to Joy (Jennifer Lawrence) as she plays outside her father Rudy's (Robert De Niro) auto shop store. We get glimpses of dysfunction within her family and then it spits us out somewhere between one surrealist scene in which Joy dreams about soap opera stars and her family harassing her and then it goes into her family life and why she is in the situation she's in. This patterns continues throughout the whole film, allowing us to never feel an ounce of concern over Joy and her miraculous mop. Why care about someone who can literally figure a way out of every unsavory situation she is in and into every beneficial situation she's in. There's no suspense, no wonder, no enchantment. This film feels like a biopic but ends up coming across as a half assed attempt at one as it blends the corniness of soap operas into the seriousness of David O. Russell as a filmmaker. In the end, it never works. Not even once as a film. Instead, the film subjects us to situations that Joy is in that we care nothing about. Whether it is mending things with her mother and father or fending off those looking for a free ride, you know before it even starts that Joy is going to get out of it. This makes for a painfully boring film. The performances are good here, as with any David O. Russell film (except this year's Accidental Love). Jennifer Lawrence is being Jennifer Lawrence. There's no acting required here for her. She can sleep walk through a strong willed woman role and she does so here. Despite being the lead role, Lawrence is the weakest link here. She was the weakest part of American Hustle and she is the weakest part here and it is a testament to Russell continuously casting her in roles that should be played by actresses ten years her senior. American Hustle it was pretty clear she was out of her element, there's no difference with Joy. She wallows in a mature aurora to her but it never really rings true no matter how hard Lawrence tries (and trust me, she does give her all here). It ends up being a good performance in a woefully miscast film. The supporting actors are plentiful, some even stealing whole scenes. One highlight here is Robert De Niro. Russell has proved he can get the absolute best out of De Niro. This is refreshing to see especially because we all thought he gave up with some of his recent film choices but De Niro can surprise us with touching performances in between playing cookie cutter gangsters and cops. Bradley Cooper is good here and will make you want more out of him but this is a showcase for Jennifer Lawrence so let your hopes down easy. Overall, Joy demonstrates that David O. Russell has a confident handle on his performers but it also proves that he is merely a carbon copy of Martin Scorsese (or at least he is trying to be). It is an uneven film that is inspired by Goodfellas in the way Joy's story is told and unfortunately for this film, gangsters are much more interesting than housewives making a fancy mop...no matter how kick ass that mop may be in real life, the film feels like a rip off in more ways than one.