'Joy' is full of whiplash changes in mood
鈥淛oy,鈥� the third partnership of Jennifer Lawrence and the writer-director聽David O. Russell, is a hectic free-for-all in which Lawrence, yet again, is聽asked to be bold and brassy. She plays real-life Joy Mangano, the woman who made her name inventing the Miracle Mop 鈥� the self-wringing, 300-foot聽cotton loop contraption that was a big hit in the 1990s on the QVC聽channel. Covering four generations of Joy鈥檚 very dysfunctional family, the聽movie is so knockabout that, when it鈥檚 all over, you may feel wrung dry聽yourself.
Joy doesn鈥檛 have much joy in her life. As a stretched-thin, divorced聽mother of two when the film opens, she maintains a wary camaraderie聽with her ex, Tony (Edgar Ramirez), a Tom Jones wannabe who takes up聽residence in the basement of the house she shares with her TV soap-opera-addicted mother, Terry (Virginia Madsen). Her father, Rudy (Robert De聽Niro), divorced from Terry, has split with his girlfriend, and so, for a time,聽he, too, is ensconced in the basement, despite his dislike of Tony. And then聽there鈥檚 grandma Mimi (Diane Ladd), who thinks Joy can do no wrong. Russell likes bouncing these people off each other, and, up to a聽point, the freneticism and the rapid-fire banter has a nutbrain verve. He鈥檚 a聽director who likes a lot of tumult.
The trouble is, he never knows when to聽cool it. His model is likely the great writer-director Preston Sturges, who,聽in films such as 鈥淗ail the Conquering Hero鈥� and 鈥淭he Palm Beach Story,鈥澛爎aised verbal slapstick to heights of sophistication never achieved before聽or since. But Sturges understood that freneticism pays off better when聽there is ample downtime in between. In 鈥淛oy,鈥� it鈥檚 almost all yammering聽all the time.
Joy is a tough cookie who never really crumbles, even when it looks as if her Miracle Mop may not prove to be such a miracle after all.聽Throughout the film, she has no serious romantic attachments; what she really enjoys聽is showing off her smarts and beating the big boys at their own聽game. A pig-headed match-up between 鈥淛oy鈥� and 鈥淪teve Jobs鈥� would be聽a dead heat.
Although it鈥檚 fun to see her triumph over so many crumbums, all this聽hoo-ha makes her something less than a full-fledged heroine. Lawrence is聽terrific at playing tough, as she also demonstrated in her previous outings聽with Russell, 鈥淪ilver Linings Playbook鈥� and, especially, 鈥淎merican聽Hustle." But maybe it鈥檚 time for her to take a rest from him for a while.聽There鈥檚 a lot more to this actress than bold and brassy.聽
Russell鈥檚 stock company also includes De Niro, whose performance as聽a rumpled regular guy with a crooked grin and a chip on his shoulder is聽overly familiar, and Bradley Cooper, playing the slickster QVC executive聽who gives Joy her big chance on the channel. The film鈥檚 confabulation of聽oddballs, which also includes Isabella Rossellini as Rudy鈥檚 new girlfriend聽and a major investor in the mop company, exhibits so many mood swings聽that Russell might as well have called the movie 鈥淲hiplash.鈥�
I鈥檓 not saying that characters have to be inhabiting the same mood for聽an entire movie, or that people can鈥檛 be ditheringly unpredictable from聽moment to moment. It鈥檚 just that, for long stretches of 鈥淛oy,鈥� I kept聽wondering what connective tissue Russell had left on the cutting room聽floor. The film, in the end, seems both overlong and truncated. Grade:聽B- (Rated PG-13 for brief strong language.)
