Joy (M) ★★★ (Blu-ray)
This 2015 biographical dramedy showcases many of writer-director David O. Russell's strengths and weaknesses. It's quirky and unusual with a good cast but feels rambling, sometimes self-indulgent and a little hamfisted – not one of his better movies.
Jennifer Lawrence plays the title character. Joy Mangano is a divorced New Yorker working as an airline clerk and raising her two children in the house where she lives with her ex-husband Tony, a would-be singer (Edgar Ramirez), her bedbound mother Carrie (Virginia Madsen) and her father Rudy (Robert De Niro), divorced from Carrie, who's sought refuge after being abandoned by his latest girlfriend.
Joy is the strength of this fairly dysfunctional household and after injuring herself while mopping up, she invents a selfcleaning mop and seeks investment for a prototype and, eventually, a model she can produce, advertise and sell. But she discovers it's not easy to make the American dream come true.
Lawrence is good as the determined Joy and it's one of De Niro's better roles of late (which might not seem to be saying much given all the lousy comedies he's appeared in recently). There are some other good performances too but the film overall doesn't feel as good as it should be given the talent involved.
In addition to the movie there's an image gallery, a featurette, Joy, Strength and Perseverance and a discussion between Maureen Dowd, Russell and Lawrence.