Joy

One of the awards categories open to nominations by members of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists is "Movie You Wanted to Love, But Just Couldn't."

For me (I'm one of those members), Joy is that movie.

What? you say. How can anyone find fault with a David O. Russell-directed tale of an adorable bootstrap-tugging inventor, played with maximum skill by oh-so-hot Jennifer Lawrence, who pledges all she's got on a lowly mop that she is sure will transform housekeeping as we know it?

As terrific as Lawrence is in the role, her one-step-forward, two-steps-back character is the only one with the grit and personality to be likable.

And that means the audience is stuck with the presence of far too many pathetic, disagreeable and graceless characters -- who are responsible for most of those two-steps-back episodes -- through most of the film's too-long running time. If those characters were consistently entertaining enough to label this production a farce, we'd have something here. But since they aren't, that takes us back to the why we don't love this movie.

It's the story of Joy Mangano of Long Island, who really, really believes her beloved grandmother Mimi's (Diane Ladd) insistence throughout her life that she is special. It's hard to buy this notion as Joy, marginally working as a gate agent at a failing airline, is divorced with small kids. Her ex-husband Tony (Edgar Ramirez) is living in the basement of her house. Her mother Terry (Virginia Madsen), also divorced, spends her time in bed watching soap operas. Her dad Rudy (Robert De Niro), after having dumped Terry and a previous wife, methodically finds other women to house and care for him. And her half sister Peggy (Elisabeth Rohm) is chronically jealous of what she perceives as Joy's preferential status in this extraordinarily unpleasant family.

Joy is not deterred. She is assured by Mimi that she is inventive and creative, and one of her ideas will bring her success in the business world. She, and Mimi (who narrates the direction of the film for those who can't keep up with the obviousness of the proceedings), are sure of it.

That idea, sketched out with Joy's daughter's crayons, turns out to be an unassuming self-wringing masterpiece called Miracle Mop. And, despite the unavoidable interference of family and friends, Joy takes on the trappings of a Wharton MBA in short order. Surely, with the help of financing by Rudy's wealthy widowed girlfriend Trudy (Isabella Rossellini), her new-found business acumen means fame and fortune is on the way!

Alas, the journey to success lurches along far too slowly to hold the audience's interest. We can only put up with so many disasters and drawbacks before wondering why we're on this road. It doesn't help that De Niro's Rudy is stuck with outrageously insulting lines that not even the most sourpuss dad would say to his daughter, especially one who takes care of him much of the time. Equally annoying is Bradley Cooper's Neil Walker, a beaming Buddha of an executive at Home Shopping Network, whose benevolence toward Joy is just short of smarmy.

Alternately frustrating and disappointing, the film touts its true-story roots. But despite Lawrence's doggedly good-natured work, it's hard to fall in love with a woman and her mop.

MovieStyle on 12/25/2015