David O. Russell's latest affair is anything but Joyless. Joy (2015)
Director: David O. Russell
Running time: 124 mins
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Bobby De Niro, Isabella Rossellini, Bradley Cooper, Virginia Madsen.
Joy reunites the dream team of Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro, from Oscar nominated director David O. Russell (almost disappointed he's not Irish!) 2016 hasn't had a chance to breathe and already have one of my top ten placements (certainly an inspirational one too on a personal level).
I walked into this movie not really knowing what to expect, and for a while thought O. Russell was going to retread I Heart Huckabees territory; the visual gags of Joy Mangano (Lawrence) getting trapped inside a soap opera box with TV characters worse than her own dysfunctional family certainly led me to believe that. Some idiots have moaned that these scenes are distracting and don't add anything (er, yes they do) and what I admire about the director is that he just doesn't give a crap and will do it anyway. Besides, who doesn't want to see Susan Lucci and Donna Mills sending themselves up.
When we first see Joy (and so typically of O. Russell who doesn't want to signpost his flashback for the audience) I deduced it's a wintry 1970s where a sunshine-and-happiness kinda girl is with her best friend Jackie (an excellent Dascha Polanco). One can only imagine this is due to the failing marriage of her parents Rudy and Terry (De Niro and Madsen in a career best, who's aged beautifully, despite some enhancements). Fast forwarding time, Joy is all grown up into the formidable Miss Lawrence. Instead of being the glamour puss about town, our girl is a bookings clerk for Eastern Airlines and clearly not getting any kind of job satisfaction; but has some nifty plumbing skills back at the ranch. On the advice of her grandma Joy sets out to become a strong independent woman in the cut throat world of business building "wonderful things." Just one thing though, she needs to come up with an idea which eventually becomes the self-wringing Miracle Mop. It's no easy feat mind you, she needs backing and luckily her divorced father meets a rich widow Trudy (Rossellini) who agrees in financing the passion project through an amusing process-of-elimination Q&A. Agreeing on taking out a second mortgage, Joy secures an appointment through ex-hubby and close friend Tony (Édgar Ramírez in top form) who knows the executive of QVC (Quality, Value, Convenience) - Neil Walker, as played by the always reliable Bradley Cooper. At this point you just care about the outcome and boy, it's a pretty emotional one at times which had me welling up.
Jen Lawrence is 26 and the Number One Actress in the world right now, make no mistake. After winning the Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook, you'd think she would succumb to the curse most actors dread, the ending-up-in-a-DVD-bargain-bucket-for-a-movie-not-even-your-dog-watched syndrome. She's gorgeous, very career driven and one-hundred percent committed about which roles to seek out and in a rare position with Hollywood to call the shots. Right now I am hating Chris Pratt (man-crush supreme) as it's been reported he's filmed a sex scene with J-Law for sci-fi flick Passengers; I can only imagine what a chore that was. In real life Jen is still adorably funny and says what she likes (although she really should date a better class of man than Chris Martin! Yeah, Coldplay sucks but can blame Gwynnie for that fiasco). It's a given she will be nominated again for Best Actress but from the chatter I've been hearing, Brie Larson is the hot contender for Room (and I will be reviewing that in the future).
This is a more lighter outing for O. Russell, who manages to infuse uncertainty with the proceedings, but still has time for laughs, particularly with De Niro and Ramírez, the failed Tom Jones wannabe (speaking of singing, witnessing the flashback where Joy and Tony are on stage with Something Stupid is a moment to smile at; Jen should release an album interlaced with Metallica!) OK, that might be pushing it too far but one can dream! Virginia Madsen shows a comedic side to her talents; Jimmy Jean-Louis as Toussaint is short-lived but sticks in my mind and Elisabeth Röhm as bitchy sister Peggy is painful to watch (always used to her playing nice and feisty, but this a nice departure and holds her own against the heavyweight ensemble). As this was based on a semi-autobiographical true story, checkout the inspiration behind it. Gotta say, the real-life Joy sure has a mean set of pins :-)
This is an ideal post Christmas feelgood flick, which given its release is timely and reminds us not to take our home comforts for granted. It might be preaching to the females, but men can easily embrace the message and be inspired (just don't expect me to don a blonde wig and sunglasses though).
A Moptastic 8/10
Director: David O. Russell
Running time: 124 mins
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Bobby De Niro, Isabella Rossellini, Bradley Cooper, Virginia Madsen.
Joy reunites the dream team of Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro, from Oscar nominated director David O. Russell (almost disappointed he's not Irish!) 2016 hasn't had a chance to breathe and already have one of my top ten placements (certainly an inspirational one too on a personal level).
I walked into this movie not really knowing what to expect, and for a while thought O. Russell was going to retread I Heart Huckabees territory; the visual gags of Joy Mangano (Lawrence) getting trapped inside a soap opera box with TV characters worse than her own dysfunctional family certainly led me to believe that. Some idiots have moaned that these scenes are distracting and don't add anything (er, yes they do) and what I admire about the director is that he just doesn't give a crap and will do it anyway. Besides, who doesn't want to see Susan Lucci and Donna Mills sending themselves up.
When we first see Joy (and so typically of O. Russell who doesn't want to signpost his flashback for the audience) I deduced it's a wintry 1970s where a sunshine-and-happiness kinda girl is with her best friend Jackie (an excellent Dascha Polanco). One can only imagine this is due to the failing marriage of her parents Rudy and Terry (De Niro and Madsen in a career best, who's aged beautifully, despite some enhancements). Fast forwarding time, Joy is all grown up into the formidable Miss Lawrence. Instead of being the glamour puss about town, our girl is a bookings clerk for Eastern Airlines and clearly not getting any kind of job satisfaction; but has some nifty plumbing skills back at the ranch. On the advice of her grandma Joy sets out to become a strong independent woman in the cut throat world of business building "wonderful things." Just one thing though, she needs to come up with an idea which eventually becomes the self-wringing Miracle Mop. It's no easy feat mind you, she needs backing and luckily her divorced father meets a rich widow Trudy (Rossellini) who agrees in financing the passion project through an amusing process-of-elimination Q&A. Agreeing on taking out a second mortgage, Joy secures an appointment through ex-hubby and close friend Tony (Édgar Ramírez in top form) who knows the executive of QVC (Quality, Value, Convenience) - Neil Walker, as played by the always reliable Bradley Cooper. At this point you just care about the outcome and boy, it's a pretty emotional one at times which had me welling up.
Jen Lawrence is 26 and the Number One Actress in the world right now, make no mistake. After winning the Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook, you'd think she would succumb to the curse most actors dread, the ending-up-in-a-DVD-bargain-bucket-for-a-movie-not-even-your-dog-watched syndrome. She's gorgeous, very career driven and one-hundred percent committed about which roles to seek out and in a rare position with Hollywood to call the shots. Right now I am hating Chris Pratt (man-crush supreme) as it's been reported he's filmed a sex scene with J-Law for sci-fi flick Passengers; I can only imagine what a chore that was. In real life Jen is still adorably funny and says what she likes (although she really should date a better class of man than Chris Martin! Yeah, Coldplay sucks but can blame Gwynnie for that fiasco). It's a given she will be nominated again for Best Actress but from the chatter I've been hearing, Brie Larson is the hot contender for Room (and I will be reviewing that in the future).
This is a more lighter outing for O. Russell, who manages to infuse uncertainty with the proceedings, but still has time for laughs, particularly with De Niro and Ramírez, the failed Tom Jones wannabe (speaking of singing, witnessing the flashback where Joy and Tony are on stage with Something Stupid is a moment to smile at; Jen should release an album interlaced with Metallica!) OK, that might be pushing it too far but one can dream! Virginia Madsen shows a comedic side to her talents; Jimmy Jean-Louis as Toussaint is short-lived but sticks in my mind and Elisabeth Röhm as bitchy sister Peggy is painful to watch (always used to her playing nice and feisty, but this a nice departure and holds her own against the heavyweight ensemble). As this was based on a semi-autobiographical true story, checkout the inspiration behind it. Gotta say, the real-life Joy sure has a mean set of pins :-)
This is an ideal post Christmas feelgood flick, which given its release is timely and reminds us not to take our home comforts for granted. It might be preaching to the females, but men can easily embrace the message and be inspired (just don't expect me to don a blonde wig and sunglasses though).
A Moptastic 8/10
