Joy

Fox 2000 Pictures | Release Date: December 25, 2015

6.5	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 287 Ratings

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User Reviews

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Sharonkk2Jan 23, 2016

This movie is joyless for the viewer. Even the "happy ending" is not happy for the character or the audience. The actors played their parts well but the movie was boring.

3 of 4 users found this helpful31

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5thStFreddieDec 25, 2015

One of the most boring, awful messes of the year. Save for a few moments when Lawrence goes off on people when her entire world is threatened, it's not dramatic, it's not funny, and it'sunwatchable. The entire story is narrated by herOne of the most boring, awful messes of the year. Save for a few moments when Lawrence goes off on people when her entire world is threatened, it's not dramatic, it's not funny, and it'sunwatchable. The entire story is narrated by her alleged grandmother, which makes for the most boring and tedious exposition imaginable. Joy is this alleged genius inventor, but you never see any of it - it's just told to you. It's just all over the place, and I couldn't care less about any of them.… Expand

5 of 7 users found this helpful52

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coloradosnowmanJan 4, 2016

Who wants to watch a movie about the creator of a mop? Nobody. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of David Russell's previous work, but Jennifer Lawrence has definitely worn out her welcome. Huge snoozfest

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

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iseenthefutureDec 31, 2015

David o' Russell was sitting in his kitchen at his wit's end. Then he saw his mop...
He should have gone to bed.
Some minor patenting legal speed bumps, nothing to worry about. House wife does good. Sorry, don't want to ruin thisDavid o' Russell was sitting in his kitchen at his wit's end. Then he saw his mop...
He should have gone to bed.
Some minor patenting legal speed bumps, nothing to worry about. House wife does good.
Sorry, don't want to ruin this masterpiece of domestic efficiency, but...... write a goddamn story.
New mop from JML is the last chorus of the one-time lucky film-maker.
I've got an idea for a career-killer. Sorry, just seen someone has already sliced bread.
I feel like a lazy bastard.… Expand

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

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Tone01Dec 25, 2015

- No Drama + No Comedy - Stakes = Zero Story -

Mostly, the everyman applauds when another everyman struggles against odds to find success. Sometime those struggles are herculean. Not the case in "Joy." While the real life, inventive Joy- No Drama + No Comedy - Stakes = Zero Story -

Mostly, the everyman applauds when another everyman struggles against odds to find success. Sometime those struggles are herculean. Not the case in "Joy." While the real life, inventive Joy deserves kudos, the bottom line is this is a feature film about the creator of a better mop.

Russell struggles, unsuccessfully, to portray as harrowing the path to the mop. Joy (Jennifer Lawrence), deals with a houseful of kids, only a few of them children by age. The motley crew in a small house is not on Joy's side. She is the breadwinner, the adult, the rock whose imagination is a liability to those overly dependent on her. It's a paint-by-numbers affair from there – familial jealousy, dirty financial dealings, the nightmare foretold by the old saw, "Do not do business with your family."

The only one with an eye on Joy's genius is Grandma (Diane Ladd). Joy uses her small crumb of encouragement to build a mop prototype. She brings it to QVC where the initial sale segment bombs. Slick QVC huckster Bradley Cooper takes a chance and allows Joy to showcase the mop herself. Bingo! The mop sells out. Success? Nope. The parts supplier is screwing Joy, every sale of the mop loses money, and the family wants their money back. Financial ruin follows. Then Grandma dies. But the plucky Joy womans up to settle all scores financial and emotional. Hoorah!

In lieu of dramatizing a woman overcoming, Russell instead created a painfully unfunny comedy. His palette is broad with a spectrum of quirkies mincing about with a family dynamic that could only exist in a poorly written movie like "Joy." The spot-on Russell eventually had to fall. "Joy" is the X marking the spot.

Made-for-this-film, unfunny soap opera segments are unmotivated. There is no subtext pointing to the off-TV characters. There's also no payoff. There are out-of-left-field scenes of the soap in the first quarter and it's never seen again. What's the point?

The Cooper-Lawrence chemistry bright and vibrant in past screen pairings is absent in "Joy." Here, it's given way to forced discomfort. There's a sense Lawrence, Cooper and DeNiro at some point knew "Joy" was a dog and tried hard to not phone it in. That or their direction was, "You've just been hit by a phaser on stun."

The tonally confused "Joy" offers little on the path to an unsatisfying end where Joy makes it big, big, big and helps others succeed.

There's little sympathy for Joy. The stakes: not living to one's potential and living with unfulfilled dreams. Her children are healthy. Her dad, DeNiro, runs a going concern and could help financially if push came to shove. She's smart and capable of working. Poor Joy.

One wonders about the scores of courageous men and women who daily struggle against far greater odds, wolves at the door, to put bread on the table. Where are tales of these folks? It's an odd and tragic choice for Russell to highlight Joy's story (and insensitive in the current economy where one in seven US children go to bed hungry). The can-do attitude of a person overcoming trials is powerful. Open your eyes, Mr. Russell. There are far better underdog tales to make. They're just not sexy as Lawrence dancing with a mop.… Expand

5 of 8 users found this helpful53

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PabloteeDec 25, 2015

Joy-- it is not. In the kitchen, having the best ingredients available to you does not ensure the success-- if the recipe you are working with is bad to begin with. That is true also with Joy. It is blessed with a star studded cast ofJoy-- it is not. In the kitchen, having the best ingredients available to you does not ensure the success-- if the recipe you are working with is bad to begin with. That is true also with Joy. It is blessed with a star studded cast of actors who probably should have run away from this turkey at first sniff, but wait, David O. Russell has had a string of successes, so what the hey!

Russell usually has been able to make his films work by moving the story along at a fast enough clip that the viewer doesn't have time enough to dwell on how cliché and contrived some of his characters and situations are. That is not the case with Joy. In fact, there are a number of scenes in this movie where the characters are caught in almost Wes Andersen sort of trance-- they have that deer in the headlights look. The difference is that this is not a Wes Anderson movie and the writing and direction is not good enough to make you want to suspend belief. You never really believe in the characters because you never really get to know and care about them enough. Isn't that what any good film should always have at its core??

Joy throws a lot of star power around with actors like Robert DeNiro, Bradley Cooper, Virginia Madsen, Isabella Rosselini playing the supporting cast, but they are pretty much wasted and only serve to divert our attention away from Jennifer Lawrence's character, instead of helping to illuminate it. You end up simply not caring about her or the others. All the clichés are exposed for what they are. Perhaps this is because the original script by Annie Mumulo was reworked by Russell and certain key biographical elements of the real Joy Mangano were taken out? Who knows? What is clear in the end is that this film loses a viewer’s attention one-third of the way through and never gets it back.… Expand

3 of 6 users found this helpful33

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BroyaxJan 4, 2017

Oh merde, Jennifer Lawrence et Bradley Cooper, les abrutis réunis, lui le charisme d'un frigidaire à la casse, elle sa tronche bizarre un brin mongoloïde et sa nullité de jeu qui irradie de tous ses pores comme un cri à la face du mondeOh merde, Jennifer Lawrence et Bradley Cooper, les abrutis réunis, lui le charisme d'un frigidaire à la casse, elle sa tronche bizarre un brin mongoloïde et sa nullité de jeu qui irradie de tous ses pores comme un cri à la face du monde "faites quelque chose, je suis nulle à chier, aidez-moi". Seulement, même en détresse la pouffe, on a juste envie d'une chose : lui enfoncer la tête dans un seau.

Alors, lorsqu'on apprend que dans son rôle de gourdasse, elle se veut la lauréate au concours Lapine de son balai à chiottes auto-essorant lavable en machine pour le fabriquer en série chez une bande de cons, on est pas plus étonné que ça.

De Niro est là pour la galerie en papa à la masse à gesticuler comme au Muppet Show et pour le reste, rien à signaler, rien à mentionner si ce n'est l'ennui (quasi-mortel... sinon on ne serait plus là pour en parler) qui habite cette espèce de film, cette sous-comédie qui se permet de moraliser et donner des leçons comme un pilier de bar sur le point de s'affaler dans son vomi.

Joy donc, c'est pas la joie !… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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JoeB777Dec 25, 2015

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I simply do not know what the purpose of this movie was, either in watching it or in making it. Joy tries to tell the story of a woman "making it" against odds due to her hard work and "can-do" attitude. It tells the story, but it doesn't make the story seem particularly plausible, nor did it make me care.… Expand

6 of 13 users found this helpful67

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ProgrammingMay 14, 2016

Absolutely boring. horrible movie. I couldn't even stand the first 30 minutes of useless scenes that build into more boring useless scenes. I want the time back that I waisted watching as far as I did.

2 of 9 users found this helpful27

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