Joy Information

Joy is a 2015 American biographical comedy-drama film, written and directed by David O. Russell and starring Jennifer Lawrence as Joy Mangano, a self-made millionaire who created her own business empire. Mangano was a divorced mother with three children in the early 1990s when she invented the Miracle Mop and became an overnight success, after which she patented many other products, often selling on the Home Shopping Network and QVC. The film is a semi-fictional and inspirational portrayal of how Mangano overcame personal and professional obstacles to rise to the top.

Joy received a wide theatrical release on December 25, 2015, and is distributed by 20th Century Fox. It earned mixed reviews from critics, who praised Lawrence's performance but criticized the writing and pace of the film, particularly the first half. Jennifer Lawrence received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her performance. Joy was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, among other accolades.

Plot

In 1989, Joy Mangano is a divorced mother of two, working as a booking clerk for Eastern Airlines. She lives with her two young children, her mother, Terri, her grandmother, Mimi, and her ex-husband, Tony in Quogue, New York. Her parents are divorced, and her mother and father fight whenever her father shows up at her home. Joy's older half-sister, Peggy, is an overachiever who constantly humiliates Joy in front of her children. Peggy and Joy's father Rudy are very close. Terri spends all day lying in bed watching soap operas as a means of escape from her life, leaving Joy to run the household. Only Joy's grandmother and her best friend Jackie encourage her to pursue her inventing ambitions and become a strong successful woman.

After divorcing his third wife, Joy's father starts dating Trudy, a wealthy Italian widow with some business experience. While on Trudy's boat, Joy drops a glass of red wine, attempts to mop up the mess, and cuts her hands on the broken glass while wringing the mop. Joy returns home and creates blueprints for a self-wringing mop. She builds a prototype with help from the employees at her father's shop. She then convinces Trudy to invest in the product. They make a deal with a company in California to manufacture the mop's parts at a low price. In order to avoid a potential lawsuit, Joy also pays $50,000 in royalties to a man in Hong Kong who supposedly has created a similar product. When the company repeatedly bills Joy for faulty parts they create, Joy refuses to pay the fees and tells her father, Trudy, and Peggy not to pay them.

Joy needs a quick, easy way to advertise her product, and is able to meet with QVC executive Neil Walker. Neil is impressed and shows Joy his infomercials, where celebrities sell entrepreneur's products through a telethon system. Neil tells Joy to manufacture 50,000 mops. Joy is advised by Trudy to take out a second mortgage on her home, in order to pay her costs. The first infomercial fails, but when she goes on QVC, Joy and her product become an overnight success. Things look up for the family, with the mop earning thousands of dollars on QVC, and Terri falls for Toussaint, a Haitian plumber Joy hired earlier in the film to fix up a leak in Terri's bedroom.

Joy's grandmother dies suddenly. Rudy and Trudy send Peggy to California to conduct Joy's company business. Afterwards Peggy tells Joy that she paid excessively raised production fees. Joy is angry and travels to California to meet with the manufacturer, who refuses to pay her back. Joy also discovers that the manufacturer is about to fraudulently patent her design. Her lawyer reveals that there is nothing they can do to prevent this, and Joy is forced to file for bankruptcy. Joy discovers that the manufacturers have been defrauding her the entire time she has dealt with them. She confronts the owner, and forces him to pay her back.

Several years later, Joy is wealthy and runs a successful business. She continues to take care of her father, even though he and Peggy had unsuccessfully sued her for ownership of the company. Terri is the only family member who does not live off Joy, finally finding stability through her relationship with Toussaint. Jackie and Tony remain Joy's most valued advisers, and the film ends with her helping a young mother develop a new invention.

Cast

• Jennifer Lawrence as Joy Mangano
  • Isabella Crovetti-Cramp as young Joy Mangano
• Robert De Niro as Rudy Mangano, Joy's father
• Bradley Cooper as Neil Walker, an executive at QVC
• dgar Ramrez as Tony Miranne, Joy's ex-husband
• Diane Ladd as Mimi, Joy's grandmother
• Virginia Madsen as Terri Mangano, Joy's mother
• Isabella Rossellini as Trudy, Joy's father's girlfriend and Joy's financier
• Elisabeth Rhm as Peggy, Joy's half-sister
  • Madison Wolfe as young Peggy
• Dascha Polanco as Jackie, Joy's best friend
  • Emily Nunez as young Jackie
• Melissa Rivers as Joan Rivers
• Donna Mills as Priscilla
• Susan Lucci as Danica
• Maurice Benard as Jared
• Laura Wright as Clarinda
• Alexander Cook as Bartholomew
• Jimmy Jean-Louis as Touissant
• Drena De Niro as Cindy

Production

Writing and casting

In January 2014, it was announced that David O. Russell's upcoming project would entail rewriting and directing a drama film about American inventor and entrepreneur Joy Mangano, a struggling Long Island single mom of three children. Russell set Jennifer Lawrence to play the lead role in the film, which John Davis and John Fox produced for Davis Entertainment, along with Ken Mok, with 20th Century Fox holding the distribution rights. In early November 2014, Russell said it was "a great opportunity to do something neither Jennifer nor I have done" [before]. He also stated that he would like to cast Robert De Niro and create a role for Bradley Cooper to star in the film. On November 11, it was reported that De Niro was in final talks to re-team with Russell and Lawrence in the film, to play Mangano's father. They worked together in the 2012 film Silver Linings Playbook, and then De Niro made a cameo in 2013's American Hustle. Russell rewrote the script by Annie Mumolo. On November 17, De Niro confirmed his casting, saying "Yes I am going to do something with them. I am going to play a father." In early December 2014, Cooper was officially set to star along with Lawrence, playing an executive at QVC who helps Joy by giving the Miracle Mop a boost. On December 8, dgar Ramrez was cast as Tony Miranda, Joy's now ex-husband. Additional cast members, including Isabella Rossellini, Diane Ladd, and Virginia Madsen in unspecified roles, were revealed on February 17, 2015. Isabella Crovetti-Cramp played young Joy. In February, another working title was revealed, which was Kay's Baptism. Elisabeth Rhm's casting as Peggy, sister of Joy Mangano, was revealed on February 27, 2015.

Filming

Principal photography began in February 2015, after De Niro completed the shooting of Dirty Grandpa. Filming was originally set to begin on February 9, 2015, in Boston, Massachusetts, making this Russell's third film shot in the area. Due to snow in the city, filming was rescheduled to begin on February 19, on Federal Street in Wilmington, MA, lasting through February 26, but principal photography on the film began in Boston on February 16, 2015.

In Wilmington, filming lasted until February 26, 2015. On February 27, 2015, Lawrence made a Facebook post denying the rumors about her clashes with Russell on the set of the film, saying, "David O. Russell is one of my closest friends and we have an amazing collaborative working relationship. I adore this man and he does not deserve this tabloid malarkey. This movie is going great and I"?m having a blast making it!" After wrapping up in Wilmington, the production moved to North Reading, where shooting took place March 2-4, 2015 and on March 11 and 12.

Release

The film was released on December 25, 2015.

Reception

Box office

, Joy has grossed $56.4 million in North America and $43.4 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $99.8 million, against a budget of $60 million.

In the United States and Canada, the film opened on December 25, 2015 alongside Point Break, Daddy's Home, and Concussion, as well as the wide release of The Big Short. In its opening weekend, it was projected to gross $13-15 million from 2,896 theaters. It ended up grossing $17 million, finishing third at the box office behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($149.2 million) and Daddy's Home ($38.7 million).

Critical response

Joy has received mixed reviews from critics. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 61%, based on 208 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10. The site's consensus reads, "Joy is anchored by a strong performance from Jennifer Lawrence, although director David O. Russell's uncertain approach to its fascinating fact-based tale only sporadically sparks bursts of the titular emotion." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 56 out of 100, based on 48 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Awards and nominations

Award	Category	Recipient(s)	Result
AARP Annual Movies for Grownups Awards	Best Picture	Joy
	Best Comedy
	Best Time Capsule
	Best Supporting Actress	Diane Ladd
	Best Supporting Actor	Robert De Niro
	Best Screenwriter	David O. Russell
	Best Director
Academy Awards	Best Actress	Jennifer Lawrence
ACE Eddie Awards	Best Edited Feature Film - Comedy or Musical	Alan Baumgarten, Jay Cassidy, Tom Cross and Christopher Tellefsen
Art Directors Guild Awards	Contemporary Film	Judy Becker
Casting Society of America	Big Budget - Comedy	Mary Vernieu, Lindsay Graham, Angela Peri
Costume Designers Guild Awards	Excellence in Costume Design for a Contemporary Film	Michael Wilkinson
Critics"? Choice Awards	Best Actress	Jennifer Lawrence
	Best Comedy	Joy
	Best Actress in a Comedy	Jennifer Lawrence
Denver Film Critics Society	Best Comedy	Joy
Detroit Film Critics Society	Best Actress	Jennifer Lawrence
	Best Ensemble	Joy
Golden Globe Awards	Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy	Joy
	Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical	Jennifer Lawrence
Indiana Film Journalists Association	Best Film	Joy
	Best Actress	Jennifer Lawrence
Phoenix Critics Circle	Best Actress	Jennifer Lawrence
	Best Comedy Film	Joy
Phoenix Film Critics"? Society	Best Actress	Jennifer Lawrence