Review of Joy (2015) by Doris G — 04 May 2016

The inventor of the Miracle Mop builds a business dynasty despite the obstruction of her family.

Aside from a few gems, I've often found David O. Russell's accolades to be much ado about nothing, and what is true about most of his films is doubly true about this one. It's a disjointed story, with a ton of "tell" dialogue emphasizing just how awful Joy's family is, and the filmmaking is conspicuously absent of energy. For example, when Neil Walker is showing Joy the ropes, Bradley Cooper delivers the dialogue like he's in a trance, and the tracking shot is as static as any moving shot could be. Now imagine if Danny Boyle was directing an Aaron Sorkin script; what rapid-fire kick-assery would that have been.

Also, the sound editing and direction was like the proverbial thumb in the frame. There were whole lines of dialogue that were clearly added in post - like fucking amateur hour nominated for awards.

Overall, I don't understand why anybody like David O. Russell (outside of The Fighter, which is excellent).