Here are review links for this film submitted by our members:
- Marco Albanese @ Stanze di Cinema [Italian]
- Excerpt: Pur talvolta un po’ squilibrato nelle sue scelte drammatiche, il film di David O.Russell è ammirevole per generosità e onestà nella messa in scena e appare come uno dei più riusciti della sua carriera, una sinfonia familiare, nella quale emerge prepotente la ricerca di sè e la volontà di non arrendersi mai.
- José Arce @ LaButaca.net [Spanish]
- Excerpt: El director David O. Russell llega a una cumbre desparramada de su personalidad tras las cámaras con una propuesta que se le ha ido de madre en su fusión genérica y tonal. Un biopic que alterna la emoción con la total falta de interés.
- Jason Bailey @ Flavorwire
- Excerpt: In something like ‘Three Kings’ or even ‘Silver Linings Playbook,’ one gets the sense that he’s trying to keep the viewer off-balance; in ‘Joy,’ it feels more like the filmmaker himself is off-balance. It’s a messy script, even by Russell’s own lax standards; characters disappear for huge swaths of the narrative, story strands don’t pay off, and big emotional beats are so overcooked they smoke up the screen.
- Nicholas Bell @ Ioncinema
- Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat @ Spirituality & Practice
- Excerpt: True story of an inventor and entrepreneur whose quest for success is propelled by the unconditional love, appreciation, and encouragement of her grandmother.
- Robert Cashill @ Popdose.com
- Bill Clark @ From The Balcony
- Excerpt: Joy doesn’t resonate as a hard-hitting, memorable biography, but as a lightweight, ultimately charming slice of entrepreneurial spirit, it works.
- Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: The decades long scope of the film becomes unwieldy with what feels like an hour of story telling crammed into its final minutes. “Joy” feels like a work in progress.
- David Crow @ Den of Geek
- Excerpt: However, these sequences that give the film (and Lawrence’s performance) a real edge are constantly off-set by a screenplay from Russell that feels indecisive and unfinished.
- Mark Dujsik @ Mark Reviews Movies
- Excerpt: Dramatically, the story is a repetitive process of promises and disappointments.
- James Jay Edwards @ FilmFracture
- Candice Frederick @ Reel Talk Online
- Hugo Gomes @ Cinematograficamente Falando … [Portuguese]
- Susan Granger @ www.susangranger.com
- Excerpt: Awkwardly told and unevenly paced, it revolves around the inventor of the Miracle Mop and should resonate most clearly with women who relate to Joy Mangano’s repression and battle for basic equality.
- Vadym Grygoriev @ kinoblog.com [Ukrainian]
- Roderick Heath @ This Island Rod
- Excerpt: Joy is far from an unqualified success, but, like its heroine, makes you respect it and stick with it even when it threatens to fall on its face.
- Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: What David O. Russell has done with the saga of Joy Mangano is a visionary appropriation of the facts. The director has creatively imagined Joy Mangano’s memoir as a modern day fantasy.
- Courtney Howard @ FreshFiction.tv
- Excerpt: Ultimately, the film fails to sell us on its goods.
- MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: Even the miscasting of Jennifer Lawrence takes a backseat to the forced quirkiness, which David O. Russell cannot get his cast on the same page with.
- Charlie Juhl @ Citizen Charlie
- Excerpt: Pitched as a story full of inspiration and as a Christmas movie for the whole family this holiday season, I warn you to keep the family away from this colossal mistake. There is no joy at all in this film, just incredulousness at why Joy never resorts to homicide.
- Jeremy Kibler @ The Artful Critic
- Excerpt: Putting another feather in her cap, Lawrence’s solidly mature performance holds together the shambling parts of “Joy.”
- Benjamin Kramer @ The Voracious Filmgoer
- Kristin Dreyer Kramer @ NightsAndWeekends.com
- Kristen Lopez @ Awards Circuit
- Alan Mattli @ Facing the Bitter Truth [German]
- Excerpt: In standardly rousing David O. Russell fashion, ‘Joy’ is a poignant take on modern America, for which, once again, a dysfunctional yet ultimately loving family serves as a stand-in.
- Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: Joy is, for the most part, a witty and engrossing look at a sister who’s doing it for herself.
- Jared Mobarak @ Jared Mobarak Reviews
- Excerpt: The only character that doesn’t become whittled down into a joke-y two-dimensional obstruction is Joy. I like Russell and have championed his critical darling renaissance despite my favorite work remaining I Heart Huckabees, but I have to give Lawrence complete credit for somehow finding a way to elevate her role above the overwritten nonsense swirling around her.
- Darren Mooney @ the m0vie blog
- Excerpt: Joy to the world…
- Pat Mullen @ Cinemablographer
- Excerpt: Joy’ might be a slog, but it finds a silver lining.
- Ben Nicholson @ CineVue
- Excerpt: Though not as finely tuned as Silver Linings Playbook or American Hustle, Joy might just be the raggedy underdog that trumps them both.
- Stefan Pape @ HeyUGuys
- Paulo Peralta @ CinEuphoria [Portuguese]
- Jason Pirodsky @ Expats.cz
- Excerpt: If you are interested in the story of Joy Mangano and the Miracle Mop, you could not have asked for a better production. But judging by the film’s chilly reception, you might be in the minority.
- Kristy Puchko @ Pajiba, Comic Book Resources
- Excerpt: As he’s best known for movies with male protagonists—like The Fighter, Three Kings and Silver Linings Playbook—I was curious to see how Russell would handle a female-focused story with themes of friendship, sisterhood, motherhood, and gender politics. The short answer is: like an asshole.
- [New – 2/19/16] | Jerry Roberts @ Armchair Cinema
- Excerpt: What draws our investment is Jennifer Lawrence who can play harried and stressed-out better than anyone else. She’s that rare actor whose whole hornet’s nest of emotional turmoil resides right there in the middle of her face – other actors have to look for it, she has it built-in.
- Diego Salgado @ Cine para Leer [Spanish]
- Frank Swietek @ One Guys Opinion
- Excerpt: A fact-based tale of a woman who realized the American Dream that fails to engender in viewers the emotion promised by the title.
- Betty Jo Tucker @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
- Excerpt: Joy should please Jennifer Lawrence fans as well as viewers who enjoy films with a strong female lead and viewpoint.
- Rob Wallis @ The Metropolist
- Excerpt: Joy — billed as “Inspired by true stories of daring woman” — makes for a neat, little festive package, if not much else.
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