Joy - Movie Review

Joy - Movie Review

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Posted 2016-01-03 by Jenny Pickettfollow
It was by pure chance that I was offered the opportunity to see the newly released movie Joy. The main reason I accepted: director David O Russell and his cast featuring Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper - who brought us Silver Linings which I totally enjoyed.

Unlike my sister and her friend who I saw the movie with, I had absolutely no idea of the story-line and got a bit nervous about investing my time and money on a biopic "about the lady who invented the Miracle Mop". Admittedly, had I not been offered the opportunity - it would have been a movie I passed over at the cinemas and possibly in DVD/digital releases.

I can assure you, Joy is the one movie you shouldn't pass on. Based on the life of American inventor, businesswoman and entrepreneur Joy Mangano who forged her way through pure determination and grit to achieve success with her first patented invention: the Miracle Mop.
Jennifer Lawrence is Joy, a divorced single parent with two young children who generously shares her home with her grandmother Mimi (Dianne Ladd), dysfunctional mother Terry (Virginia Madsen), charismatic ex-husband Tony (Édgar Ramírez) and most recently her erratic father Rudy (Robert De Niro). Joy is hard working and carries a heavy load in order to support her family and pay the mortgage.

By chance, Joy is inspired to create the Miracle Mop as a result of an incident whilst on-board Rudy's wealthy girlfriend, Trudy's (Isabella Rossellini) late husband's yacht - where "red wine is forbidden should it spill and stain the deck". The inevitable happens and glasses are broken and red wine spilt - Joy takes it upon herself to clean up the aftermath using a hand-wrung mop which results in her hands being badly damaged by shards of glass.

The unfortunate event was not in vain as the intrepid Joy sets out to invent what would become the Miracle Mop which achieved sales of epic proportions through QVC and the Home Shopping Network.

It's not all smooth sailing as Joy encounters obstacle after obstacle (most of which well meaning Rudy and wealthy but skeptical Trudy are responsible for - along with Joy's very resentful sister Peggy). It is Joy's grandmother Mimi, ex-husband Tony, daughter Christie and best friend Jackie who never falter in their faith and support to Joy.[IMAGE="http://www.weekendnotes.com/im/001/02/joy-mangano-miracle-mop.jpg" width="362" link="http://www.weekendnotes.com/im/001/02/joy-mangano-miracle-mop1.jpg" align="CENTER" thumb="http://www.weekendnotes.com/im/001/02/joy-mangano-miracle-mop2.jpg" border="1" caption="Joy is based on the life of Joy Mangano (pictured)
(image courtesy & copyright of joymangano.com)" wrap="0" title="Joy Mangano, Miracle Mop" margin="5"]Bradley Cooper is QVC executive Neil Walker who through Tony opens the doors for Joy to sell her Miracle Mop via QVC's infomercials on cable TV but only after a very traumatic false start.

I'm trying hard not to provide any spoilers whilst giving an insight into this movie. Basically, what I like about Joy is there's no glam and pretense going on - Joy and her family are fully developed and believable characters; as is the storyline which is fraught with the day-to-day hurdles of life many of us encounter, endure and ultimately overcome.

Rated M and with a run time of 124 minutes - I can honestly say sitting back and watching Joy's trials, tribulations and triumphs was time and money well spent!

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87545 - 2023-06-11 07:39:47

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