Film

Joy

Name: Joy
Genre: Drama
Released: 2015
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, Edgar Ramírez, Diane Ladd

Biopic

David O. Russell's ambitious biopic of Joy Mangano, the self-made entrepreneur who built a billion-dollar empire from a mop. It's a scrappy, melodramatic fairy tale about a woman grinding through family chaos and self-doubt to invent her way to the top. For anyone who loves underdogs and doesn't mind their inspiration served with theatrical flourish.

TMDb rating

3.3

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy messy, family-driven stories about an ordinary person's stubborn, improvised climb, where the chaos at the kitchen table matters as much as the business plan.

Skip it if you want a tidy, fast-moving rags-to-riches arc; this one lingers on domestic bickering and repeats its frustrations, and some stretches feel like they're treading water.

What it asks of you: Roughly two hours of patience with crowded family rooms and escalating squabbles, shifting between hardship and sudden leaps, with a warm but restless tone that rewards staying put.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

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Another working-class woman takes on the system through sheer determination and self-reinvention. Julia Roberts brings warmth and grit to a true story of unlikely triumph against institutional resistance.

But It's pleasantly conventional in its narrative structure, and the feminist message can feel a bit on-the-nose by modern standards.

Norma Rae1979

Sally Field as a factory worker finding her voice and agency through labor organizing. A quieter, more grounded take on the determined-woman-against-the-odds theme, with real social weight behind it.

But The pacing is deliberate and meditative—nothing like Russell's manic energy. It asks for patience rather than adrenaline.

Working Girl1988

Melanie Griffith navigates New York corporate politics with charm and cunning, bootstrapping herself into a better life. It's funnier than Joy and equally enamored with the fantasy of meritocratic climbing.

But The '80s aesthetic and attitudes feel dated, and the rom-com subplot takes up real estate you might wish went elsewhere.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Joy

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley2019

Both profiles women who built something from nothing through force of will, but this one reverses the moral: what if the dream was always a lie?

A documentary about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, another self-made female entrepreneur. But this one's about how charisma, reinvention, and sheer belief can be a con. It asks what separates genius from fraud—the darker question Joy never touches.

But It's grim and doesn't offer redemption. If you need to believe in the protagonist's fundamental goodness, this will leave you cold and uneasy.

The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley poster

The Founder2016

Michael Keaton as Ray Kroc building the McDonald's empire. Another Russell-adjacent portrait of an entrepreneur's hunger, hunger, and more hunger, with comparable energy and visual storytelling.

But The moral clarity gets murky—you're never sure if you're rooting for Kroc or horrified by him, which some find frustrating in a biopic.

Hidden Figures2016

Three Black women mathematicians refuse to be sidelined during the Space Race. It has Joy's DNA—ensemble cast, period detail, female determination—but channels it into something more socially urgent.

But The feel-good tone occasionally sidesteps the real venom of the racism it depicts. Some find it too tidy for its subject matter.

Silkwood1983

Meryl Streep as a whistleblower fighting a nuclear facility. Gritty, unglamorous, and far grimmer than Joy, but animated by the same refusal to be beaten down by circumstance and powerful people.

But It's slow and deliberately uncomfortable. There's no triumph waiting at the end, which undermines the cathartic arc some viewers need.

Dreamgirls2006

Beyoncé and Jennifer Hudson drive a story about ambition, talent, and the cost of stardom. Big emotions, production design that swallows you whole, and a sprawling ensemble cast channeling different sides of the same hunger.

But The musical numbers are indulgent, and the film sometimes mistakes loudness for depth. It can feel bloated if you're not in the mood.

Molly's Game2017

Jessica Chastain as a poker kingpin building an underground empire through wit and nerve. Another Russell film about resourcefulness and reinvention, with snappier dialogue and fewer melodramatic swells.

But It's more interested in the mechanics of the con than the emotional core, which makes it feel colder than Joy despite being smarter.

I Feel Pretty2018

Amy Schumer as a woman who gains sudden confidence after a head injury and decides to start her own beauty business. The DNA is there—female entrepreneur, self-made, scrappy energy—even if the execution is lighter.

But It's aggressively silly in a way that undermines any real stakes. The film seems afraid to commit to anything heavier than a punchline.

Puffball2007

Like Joy, it's a woman's paranoia and determination turned into a kind of surrealist art, but here the world really might be against her—and we never quite know the truth.

A pregnant woman isolated in the English countryside becomes convinced her neighbors are conspiring against her. Surreal, unsettling, visually inventive. It feels nothing like a traditional biopic and everything like a fever dream.

But It's deliberately obscure and more interested in mood than plot. The narrative logic snaps and bends. Most people will find it bewildering rather than rewarding.