‘JOY’ review: Jennifer Lawrence saves David O. Russell again

[yasr_overall_rating]

Whoever thought that we needed a movie about Joy Mangano, the woman who invented the Miracle Mop? Apparently, David O. Russell and Bridesmaids co-writer Annie Mumolo thought we did. But after you see JOY, you’ll see that they were wrong.

JOY ends the rather incredible run Russell had been on since resuming his career in 2010 with The Fighter. He once again casts Jennifer Lawrence as his main character, the spunky Joy who insists on being better than her stay-at-home mom (Virginia Madsen) and her twice-divorced father (Robert De Niro). She struggles at first after marrying - then having two kids with and divorcing - Tony (Edgar Ramirez).

All her life, Joy had dreamed of becoming an inventor and was inspired by her grandmother (Diane Ladd). One day, she comes up with the idea for the Miracle Mop. After using money from her dad’s girlfriend (Isabella Rossellini) and getting screwed over by her half-sister (Elisabeth Rohm), the Mop eventually finds a home on QVC with the help of executive Neil Walker (Bradley Cooper).

Now, we all know that Mangano succeeded, so that takes away some of the film’s dramatic tension. But that also means that the film has little reason for existing. Yes, it’s kind of fun to see Russell direct a crazy family like he did in Silver Linings Playbook and The Fighter. However, in those movies, there was less jumping around and playing with timelines. There was some visible faith in his actors to do their best to keep audiences engaged. In Joy, he plays around with time as he jumps back and forth in an effort to do something original with this material. Occasionally, he will also remember that he was using Joy’s grandmother as a narrator.

JOY just doesn’t have the same sense of adventurous energy that overflowed from American Hustle or Silver Linings. That’s probably because Lawrence is clearly expected to take on the entire weight of the film on her shoulders. Everyone else is in the film too briefly to make a lasting impression with their performances. Bradley Cooper feels like he’s in the movie just to do Russell a favor and Elisabeth Rohm’s character is underused. Robert De Niro doesn’t feel as engaged here as he was in Silver Linings. Russell just didn’t get get supporting performances here like he did in The Fighter.

But oh man... Jennifer Lawrence. Yes, she’s 10 years too young for the part, but she takes this role and runs with it like she’s got something to prove. She really saves the film with every ounce of her talent, particularly in the stunning final 10 minutes of the movie. She doesn’t actually say “F-U” to anyone, but she does it all by putting on those sunglasses. You forget about her being so young because she performs like she’s been around for decades.

Throughout much of the first part of JOY, you have to wonder to yourself why this movie exists. Just the very idea of the movie feels like a joke. Eventually though, Russell figures it out. The last act of the film is one of the best sequences in the Russell renaissance, when Joy finally gets everything under control. It’s just unfortunate that everything before it feels like Russell repeating himself and relying too much on Lawrence’s talent. She came through for him again, but he’s got to come through for her.