Joy (2015)

Joy is the story of the title character, who rose to become founder and matriarch of a powerful family business dynasty.

Director:

David O. Russell

Writers:

David O. Russell (screenplay), Annie Mumolo (story)

Stars:

Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 8 wins & 22 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jennifer Lawrence	...	Joy
Robert De Niro	...	Rudy
Bradley Cooper	...	Neil Walker
Edgar Ramírez	...	Tony
Diane Ladd	...	Mimi
Virginia Madsen	...	Terry
Isabella Rossellini	...	Trudy
Dascha Polanco	...	Jackie
Elisabeth Röhm	...	Peggy (as Elisabeth Rohm)
Susan Lucci	...	Danica
Laura Wright	...	Clarinda
Maurice Benard	...	Ridge
Donna Mills	...	Priscilla
Jimmy Jean-Louis	...	Touissant
Ken Howard	...	Mop Executive

Storyline

Joy Mangano has always been fascinated by creating things, This pursuit was always supported emotionally by her maternal grandmother, Mimi. Joy feels that lack of practical support has led to others making fortunes on ideas she came up with years ago but could not act upon manufacturing. Despite being broke, Joy is the person in her extended family to whom everyone has always turned, in the process forgoing her own life, including not having attended college to help see her parents through their divorce. She works in an unsatisfying job as an Eastern Airlines ticket clerk; and lives with her mother Terry who spends all day in bed watching soap operas; her ex-husband Tony, a less than successful aspiring Latino Tom Jones wannabe; and their two children. Added to this mix is her father Rudy, the owner of a failing heavy-duty garage, which is managed by Joy's older half-sister Peggy, with whom she has somewhat of a strained relationship, and for which Joy does the books. Sharon, Rudy's ...

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Plot Keywords:

female inventor | sales pitch | parking lot | k mart | female name in title | 

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Taglines:

In America the ordinary needs the extraordinary every single day.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for brief strong language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Among the changes that David O. Russell made to the original biographical story of Joy Mangano that was featured in Annie Mumolo's script was adding Joy's half-sister, Peggy, who is entirely fictional. Terry is a composite of several people in Joy Mangano's life. In real life, Joy's ex-husband, Tony Miranne, was a fellow business student and former classmate at Pace University, not a Venezuelan singer. Russell has stated several times that he does not consider his film to be a biographical film of Mangano, as it was originally intended to be, when Mumolo wrote her script, which was later heavily changed by Russell.

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Goofs

The yacht featured in the film, a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey DS, did not enter production until the late 2000s.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Clarinda: [TV soap opera scene] It doesn't make sense, I don't understand how something like this happened. I don't know what I'm going to do. This has been my whole life, and now it's gone I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Pendleton Industries is all I've ever known, and now it's all been taken away.
Danica: When someone sees a weakness in me, I turn that weakness into a strength.
[holds up a gun]
Clarinda: Danica, you're so strong. I don't think I can do anything like this.
Danica: You can imagine changing your life...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

The 20th Century Fox fanfare is shortened for the first half, in order to have the bells taking over it for the second half. Like in The Maze Runner (2014), it cuts to black. The opening theme starts playing over the following Annapurna Pictures and Davis Entertainment logos.

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Connections

Featured in Late Night with Seth Meyers: Jennifer Lawrence/Kurt Russell/Fred Noe/Ilan Rubin (2015)

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Soundtracks

In the Bleak Midwinter
Music by Harold Darke and Lyrics by Christina Georgina Rossetti (as Christina Rosetti)
Performed by Choir of Kings College Cambridge with Thomas Bullard, Benjamin Bayl and Stephen Cleobury
Courtesy of Warner Classics
By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

User Reviews

A disappointment

A movie written and directed by David O Russell and starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper - a trio involved in the wonderful "Silver Linings Playbook" and "American Hustle" - is one to excite any cinema-goer and, as the cast list also includes such veteran actors as Robert De Niro and Isabella Rossellini, expectations were understandably high. But sadly the film is a disappointment and only the ever- watchable Lawrence in the central role elevates it above an even-worse assessment.

The title refers not to an emotion but to a person, the American entrepreneur Joy Mangano. and the movie is a worthy attempt to show how women can be empowered and inventive if they pursue their dreams with passion and support.

Perhaps any film about the design of a mop - even a so-called Miracle Mop that sold in huge numbers on the television channel QVC - was going to struggle to seize the emotions (after all, we are not talking about "The Social Network" and the creation of Facebook here). But the work suffers from an odd structure - there are early flashbacks and the voice-over is from someone who dies - and a weak script. So, really not much joy at all.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish French

Release Date:

25 December 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Joy

Filming Locations:

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$17,015,168, 27 December 2015

Gross USA:

$56,451,232

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$101,134,059

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox 2000 Pictures, Annapurna Pictures, Davis Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Dolby Surround 7.1 Dolby Atmos

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1