Lively, charismatic, if broad, work from Jennifer Lawrence

Rating: Null/10 (27 December 2015)

Joy itself was really disjointed and messy. American Hustle was messy too, but in a more substantial way. This was a decently entertaining film, very inoffensive, but without much effect or weight. The screenplay needed a lot more work because the ingredients to have made it work seemed to be in its grasp, yet it never fully came together. The cast is very good though and the reason it works at all. In particular, Jennifer Lawrence is a joy (sorry for that). Like always, she's extremely lively and and endlessly charismatic. She makes the film work more than it should, and she brightens the whole thing up. So, that's a positive. The problem here, and it's become more obvious with each new Russell-Lawrence collaboration... she seems to work in broad characterization. It was more obvious in American Hustle, but that character called for over-the- top mannerisms and performing, but it does seem like Russell is taking away so much of her nuance that she showed in something like Winter's Bone. I think it's a very good Lawrence performance here, and not many people I could accuse of being unsubtle and still really good. The reason she's so good is because of her energy and natural charisma, but I do think she relies a little too much on really obvious "acting" at times. So as odd as this sounds, I kind of loved her here, yet I do acknowledge that I hope she and Russell either stop working together or tone it down. Odd, I know.