Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper star together once more to tell the tale of how a single mother becomes a business magnate worth $50 million
Jennifer Lawrence (left) stars as single-mom inventor Joy Mangano, alongside Robert De Niro as Joy’s father, Rudy Mangano.
On the surface, upcoming movie Joy sounds like a modern-day Cinderella tale — it follows the true story of Joy Mangano (played by Jennifer Lawrence of The Hunger Games and Silver Linings Playbook), a single mom who once struggled with a broken marriage, three children and multiple odd jobs.
One day, Joy took a leap of faith. She poured all US$100,000 (about S$141,000) of her savings into developing the ultimate tool for single parents: a self-wringing mop. Now, at 53, Joy lives in a cushy New York mansion and is estimated to be worth US$50 million.
But, you’ll soon find out, Joy’s road to riches wasn’t just a feel-good and easy-breezy fairy tale — and neither is this movie retelling her journey.
A BUMPY ROAD
From the onset, Joy’s path to success in the 1990s was paved with obstacles. Sales of her “Miracle Mop” flopped when it first debuted on US television channel QVC, even when presented by personalities such as Joan Rivers, the late actress and TV host.
Joy had revealed to People magazine that those around her even discouraged her. She shared, “[I’m a] single-mom female inventor, [and] there was no path for that, so really I don’t think people took me seriously for a really long time.”
Despite that, Joy persevered and sold the products herself, eventually earning US$10 million in sales every year.
Thankfully, it seems that this movie directed by David O Russell (American Hustle, Silver Linings Playbook) doesn’t reduce Joy’s biography into a one-dimensional and smooth-sailing success story. It charts the constant uphill battle of the single mom-cum-entrepreneur, and the sacrifices Joy had to make to achieve her dream.
EMBELLISHED BIOGRAPHY
As with many Hollywood biopics, the movie took several liberties of amending and even spicing up certain details of Joy’s life. The real McCoy is a divorced mother of three. In the movie, Joy has only two children.
Other edited details include her sister’s name, the character of a QVC executive (Bradley Cooper) and what Joy’s ex-husband (Édgar Ramírez) works as — in real life, he was Joy’s classmate and not a Venezuelan singer.
J LAW RULES
But we don’t mind all that so much because it looks like blockbuster darling J Law does a great job bringing out the true character of Joy and her drive to succeed. The actress knows no rest. Fresh out of completing the Hunger Games finale, she dove straight into this project, spending time with Joy and even watching hours of her pitching her products in TV commercials.
And, in true J Law fashion, the lovable actress was so impressed that she actually tried to call in to order the products. She recounted, “I actually tried to buy one until my friend reminded me, I’d recorded the shows and [calling in] doesn’t work if it’s not live!”
Nevertheless, she took away valuable lessons from filming Joy, such as perseverance, dogged hard work and how to mop.
The Hunger Games star confessed that, because her mother let her do every chore except for cleaning the floor, her co-star Bradley Cooper (also from the Silver Linings Playbook team) had to teach her how to mop. She also let slip that Cooper’s family members are Joy Mangano fans.
COOPER TAKES THE LEAD
J Law shared, “Bradley’s mom bought everything from QVC, and he had a Miracle Mop in his dorm room in college so he watched me mop in one scene and was like, ‘Dude, no!’ and showed me a better way.”
Will Joy be soaked in positive reception here, or will the film be wiped out by commercial blockbusters? One thing’s for certain: I wouldn’t be surprised if the Miracle Mop has a resurgence after this.
By Pamela Chow
Joy [PG13]
Director: David O Russell
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro & Édgar Ramírez
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Biography
Run length: 124 min
Release: 7 Jan
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