Every time someone’s name is a noun – like Joy – I can’t help but wonder if it has any impact in that person’s life. Having watched Joy, the latest Jennifer Lawrence’s collaboration with David O’Russell, it’s clear that the protagonist’s life is anything but joyful, which makes me wonder why this film is being categorized as a comedy… (there was no laughter at the session I attended)

Based on real events, the movie tells the story of Joy Mangano (Jennifer Lawrence), a woman who overcame all kinds of difficulties – from bankruptcy to discourage from her family – and was able to create a business empire from the ground up. As you can see from my summary, there isn’t really any room for comedy, despite the fact that David O’Russell frequently manages to put some humor in any story (for example, Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle).

Watching Joy’s family being incredibly unsupportive of anything that she tried to do was getting on my nerves at one point and I was really wishing the movie would end soon. Yes, we get it, everyone (especially her half-sister) thinks Joy is a loser who won’t be able to run her own business. We don’t need to keep hearing it.

Jennifer Lawrence’s solid performance was the best thing for me in this movie. Also, I wished we saw more of Bradley Cooper in it, but his interaction with Jennifer Lawrence was good enough to make up for the little time on screen.

Overall, I was a little disappointed. The trailer looked more interesting than the actual film. Don’t get me wrong, her life story is inspirational, it’s just that I was so annoyed with her family that I couldn’t really enjoy it properly.

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