The Three Musketeers In Action “JOY” (2015) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
“JOY”, is a biographical movie written and directed by a well-known name in Hollywood, David O Russell starring Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, and Bradly Cooper. The movie is based on a true-life story of a successful American inventor and entrepreneur, Joy Mangano (Jennifer Lawrence). “JOY” starts as a story about a little girl who likes to make things. Russell added strong narration from Joy’s loving grandmother Mimi (Diane Ladd). The beginning narration was so strong, you could feel the story taking off in a full force once the narration begins. For the most part, Joy’s life was the pure definition of unfortunate. Joy is a divorced mother of two trying to juggle between being a good mom, and a good granddaughter to her grandmother who suffers from arthritis. She also must take care of her depressed mother that hides behind a television and watches soap opera drama 24/7. Her father, Rudy (Robert De Niro), is a messed-up person that only functions if there is a woman to love. However, behind this tragic life story, lies a fairy godmother-role. In this case, the fairy godmother role was Joy’s grandmother/narrator Mimi (Diane Ladd). Mimi always believed that Joy was the one born to help carry the family to success. During a sailing trip with her disoriented family, an epiphany came into Joy’s creative mind. She thought of one random household item: mop. This is unlike any other mop, this specific mop that Joy was imagining was very innovative because you don’t have to touch the mop to wring it, it is machine washable and very absorbent. Joy was introduced to Neil Walker (Bradley Cooper), shopping network executive at QVC and this is where Jennifer Lawrence came into play and portrays the ambitious, fearless, and commerce personality of “Joy the doer” that will put her family out of poverty.
“Mimi said that you were the one born to help carry us on to success”.
There is no question, if you see the name David O Russell behind a movie, you are going to expect something great. His recent movies like “American Hustle” and “Silver Linings Playbook” has earned him positive feedback from the public because the way he portray the realness within each character in his movies. Not only was the character real, movies like “American Hustle” and “Silver Linings Playbook” portrays a lot of strong female character. Joy shows her fierce characteristics throughout the movie because she must prove to people that her innovative product was worth investing. During a questionnaire scene performed by Lawrence, she was asked many questions regarding her seriousness with the investment of her unique mop.
“You are in a room and there is a gun on the table. The only other person in the room is an adversary in commerce. Only one of you can prevail. Do you pick up the gun, Joy?”
“I pick up the gun”.
This shows how David O Russell is never afraid to direct astrong female lead in the movie “JOY” and much more. Without having a strong female character in his movies, David O. Russell would never thrive in the 21st century Hollywood.
There’s a lot of buzz going around before the release of “JOY”. The public has high expectations for this movie because of one thing: the cast. Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Bradly Cooper, it basically couldn’t get more star-studded like this. They all three have worked together in the past in the movies like “Silver Lining Playbook” and De Niro made a cameo in “American Hustle”. Both of those movies earned great reviews from the film critique. No wonder, once they release “JOY” everyone wants to see how great this movie really is because in Hollywood casting in a movie is EVERYTHING.
In hindsight, these three actors work perfectly together, however, it is different when analyzing these three characters individually. Robert De Niro’s character lacks message and purpose. From the beginning to end, De Niro was just in the movie because he was Joy’s Dad. There is no message regarding his personalities or his purpose in life. He was basically just the annoying guy that was there for support, but instead, makes everything harder for Joy. Rudy (Robert De Niro) character was undoubtedly not Oscar worthy. Bradly Cooper’s performance, on the other hand, was extraordinary. Unlike his previous movie “The Hangover” “The Hangover Part: II” and “The Hangover Part: III” this time Bradly Cooper’s character in “JOY” was very mature, enthusiastic, and successful compared to his previous comedic role. It seems like Cooper graduated out of the crazy movie character and admitted into more sophisticated character. Movies like “JOY” “Serena” and “Limitless” shows just how much Cooper wanted to evolve as an actor and that is something to applaud for.
These three actors know how to grab the viewer’s emotion. Once Lawrence, De Niro, and Cooper made an appearance, the accumulation of curiosity within the storyline builds up. At the end, you are left feeling inspired. You will admire the life of Joy Mangano and how humble she is even though she’s now a multi-million entrepreneur. So, how did Joy become this multi-million entrepreneur? I guess you just have to see the movie yourself and feel the tension building up as the mop made its way to people’s home one by one.
