Review

A Star is Born (2018) – Review

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★★★★★

The story of A Star Is Born is a well-worn fixture of Hollywood lore. A star on the decline meets and falls in love with a star in her ascendency, and together they try to navigate their way through the labyrinth of his addictions, her fame, and everything in between. It is a tale that has been retold time and again, from generation to generation, by names woven into the cinematic canon – Gaynor and March, Garland and Mason, Streisand and Kristofferson. Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga are the newest pair to provide their take on this story, and in so doing have delivered a film that is truly for the ages.

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A Star is Born (2018)

As coasting rock star Jackson Maine, Cooper is superb. He is every inch the hardcore, world-weary rocker the role requires him to be, with a commanding stage presence about him that really shines through in some of his solo numbers. The film’s opening sequence, which sees Jack performing the foot-thumping Black Eyes in front of masses of adoring fans, is a particular highlight, more so because Cooper sings every word live.

However, even more impressive is the fact that Cooper manages to make his character something none of his predecessors ever managed: likeable. For all his charm (“Hey! I just wanted to take another look at you”), he is a deeply troubled individual, plagued by childhood trauma, substance abuse and progressive hearing loss. There are moments in the film where Jack says and does some truly horrible things to those he loves, yet at no point do you ever start to dislike him. Instead, it’s clear that he is very much a victim of his own demons, and the vulnerability in Cooper’s performance perfectly captures this.

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Bradley Cooper in A Star is Born.

In stark contrast to Cooper’s forlorn Jack is Lady Gaga’s Ally, the singer he meets by chance one night and whose voice he instantly falls for. Her raw talent is as undeniable as it is compelling, and jaded though she may be by years of rejection from the music industry, she gradually warms to Jack’s insistence that she share her gift with the world. It’s a staggeringly good performance from Gaga in every department. She is equally at ease sparring with co-stars Anthony Ramos (her best friend Ramon) and Andrew Dice Clay (her Sinatra-loving father) as she is carrying the heavier emotional baggage that the later chapters of the film bring, and it’s incredible to think that so natural a performance could come out of an actress making her feature film debut.

Though Gaga’s acting may be revelatory, her profoundly powerful voice has been renowned for years. Moments when she utilises both in perfect harmony are a privilege to behold. Always Remember Us This Way and I’ll Never Love Again, both penned by Gaga, are melodically, lyrically and vocally songs that rank right at the very top of her discography. However, the epicentre the film is the scene in which Ally reluctantly joins Jack on stage to sing Shallow, the song she penned and performed for him the night before. It’s a genuinely hair-raising scene in which she initially holds herself back in the wings, pinned down by her fears and insecurities, before finally marching centre-stage and into the spotlight. She looks surprised as, almost involuntarily, note after dazzling note pours out of her, much to the rapturous acclaim of the crowd in front of her. It’s electrifying, and a reminder of how moving film can be when done right.

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Lady Gaga electrifies in A Star is Born.

Although Bradley Cooper has worked with many of the industry’s directing heavyweights, A Star is Born marks his first foray into the world of directing. There are perhaps slight pacing issues and an overuse of straight-to-camera shots, but it is nevertheless a remarkably assured first offering, with loving references to the versions of the film that preceded his own.

He succeeds in capturing the energy and dynamism of live performances, and there is some seriously gorgeous cinematography employed throughout. His use of framing, both as a foreshadowing and bookending device, is also particularly effective. So strong a debut is this that it’s hard to imagine quite how he’ll top it with his next feature, whenever that may be, but it is clear that he has a very bright future behind the camera ahead of him.

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Bradley Cooper makes his directorial debut.

Though it is still early days, A Star is Born is already generating a lot of Oscar buzz. Best Original Song seems a lock, whilst nods for acting, directing and even Best Picture may yet be on the cards. Critics have argued that such accolades would not be merited given the number of times the film has been remade. However, this is perhaps best addressed by the film itself. Towards the end, Jack’s brother Bobby (Sam Elliott) remarks that all music is made up of the same twelve notes that can be found in any octave. He adds that, “All any artist can offer the world is how they see those twelve notes.” It’s an observation that also rings particularly true of A Star is Born. Whilst it’s a story that may have been told before, never has it been told better.

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) – Review

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★★★

In the entire world, there is just one symbol more recognisable than Superman’s famous ‘S’ shield: the Christian cross. The Batman logo cannot be far behind. So famous, so iconic are the figures of Batman and Superman that their first on-screen meeting should, by all accounts, have made for a truly unforgettable film for the ages. Instead, these cultural giants have been underserved by something disappointingly inadequate. There is little remarkable or memorable about Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, save for its mediocrity.

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Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016, Zack Snyder)

The main problem here is not conceptual – comic book fans have been dreaming about a clash between Batman and Superman for decades. The issue is that the conflict between these two heroes is not the primary interest of the film. Keen to pave the way for future films and to rival the success of Marvel, it is far more occupied with establishing a ‘DC Universe’ than it is with plot or integrity. The narrative begins as a globetrotting political thriller, asking heavy-handed but well-meaning questions about the nature of power and role of gods and heroes in society, yet quickly descends into an exercise of shoehorning in as many names and cameos as its mammoth two-and-a-half hour running time will allow. In one particular sequence, a number of DC icons are introduced one-by-one via e-mail attachment. It is so shockingly lazy and uncreative a scene that even the most diehard of fans cannot have been impressed. Pure spectacle is no substitute for plot. But it is, unfortunately, just a taste of the lack of imagination which underlies the film.

Of course, the problem with cramming Batman v. Superman with superfluous names and characters is that many of those who do belong in the film are painfully underused. Lois Lane and Alfred Pennyworth are just two examples of well-loved characters who feature at the peripheries of the plot and fail to make any meaningful impact – a dreadful waste of the respective talents of Amy Adams and Jeremy Irons. Meanwhile, far from being the villainous mastermind of the piece, the inclusion of Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg, in a bizarre Social Network-esque turn) comes across as nothing more than an afterthought.

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Batman v. Superman proves far more interested in setting up a DC Universe than it is in plot.

However, the most notable and unforgivable casualty of this error is none other than Superman himself. In Man of Steel, Henry Cavill showed rare potential; no actor will ever replace Christopher Reeve in hearts and minds as the Man of Tomorrow, but Cavill appeared ready to follow in his footsteps, to bring Superman to a new generation in a way that his predecessor, Brandon Routh, never did. But there are no signs of this promise in Batman v. Superman. There is none of the charm or wit which makes Superman Superman, nor is there any of the kindness.

However, one does have to wonder how much of this is to do with the script itself. Penned by Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer, it meanders about, drifting in and out of dream sequences and visions. Bizarrely, it sidelines Superman/Clark Kent for large chunks of the film and demands little more from him than scowling, chest puffing and sentimental moping. It presumes an inherent familiarity between the audience and Cavill’s Superman, forgetting that he is not yet the character whom the audience knows and loves. The film talks about him as the kind of superhero gentle enough to save a kitten from a tree, but this is a side it never actually shows. Throughout the whole two-and-a-half hour film Superman remains, effectively, a distant stranger. Perhaps this is intentional – the script does, after all, ponder the human reaction to an alien saviour – but it is a poor choice if so. Consequently, the few moments where the script yearns for empathy for the Man of Steel instead feel frustratingly hollow.

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Henry Cavill’s Superman is poorly served by a lacklustre script.

Yet, for all its flaws (and there are many), Batman v. Superman is not a ‘bad’ film. It is no Dark Knight. It is no Spider-man 2. But there is still plenty to like about it – certainly enough to render the vitriol that hoards of seething critics have directed towards it somewhat unfounded. Ben Affleck in particular is terrific. If Christian Bale’s Batman was young and angry, Affleck’s is world-weary, brutal, and morally ambiguous. This is the kind of superhero who thinks nothing of branding those he brings to justice with his own logo; Adam West and Michael Keaton’s Dark Knights were positively fluffy in comparison. And even though his eventual showdown with Superman does, admittedly, leave something to be desired, Affleck has proved all his naysayers wrong, providing an intelligent, refreshing take on a familiar character.

As Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, Gal Gadot is similarly excellent. Though she is seen only sparingly, she punctuates the film with moments of brilliance and elevates every scene she is in. Even Batman and Superman appear in awe of her, and rightly so. Laurence Fishburne, meanwhile, is given relatively little to do as Daily Planet editor Perry White but provides the film with the touches of humour of which it is so desperately in need.

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Ben Affleck’s Batman (or ‘Batfleck’) is one of Batman v. Superman‘s saving graces.

Ultimately, Batman v. Superman‘s biggest strength may well turn out to be its biggest weakness. When Zack Snyder decided he would bring together two characters as unversally beloved as Batman and Superman, he knew financial success was guaranteed. What he didn’t perhaps account for was that his audience would settle for nothing but the best. Expectations were sky high and the bar well and truly raised.

Batman v. Superman‘s greatest sin is that it is simply average. It is enjoyable enough but not outstanding. Had this been any other film, critics and audiences could well have forgiven it for this. But this is a film which promises so much but delivers, bar some saving graces, so little. The greatest irony is that it claims to herald a ‘Dawn of Justice’, yet provides none for two of the most loved comic book and film characters of all time.

Awards Season Special: Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

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★★★

What George Miller has delivered in the form of Mad Max: Fury Road is a real achievement in technical filmmaking; a truly impressive sight to behold. It is plagued, however, by an overly simplistic plot and an excessive number of set pieces. The claims that it is one of the best action films of all time certainly feel premature and unfounded, for although it excels as a masterclass in technical brilliance, as a film it stumbles.

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Tom Hardy stars in the technically brilliant, but very flawed, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Much has been made of the sheer originality and excitement of Miller’s screenplay. Set in the barren desert world of a post-apocalyptic future, it sees disgruntled outsiders Max (Tom Hardy) and Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) team up to flee the dictatorship of the cruel Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and search for a safer homeland. As interesting as some of the core concepts of the script may be, though, it reeks of untapped potential. There are undoubtedly brilliant ideas waiting to be explored; the brutal harvesting of citizens’ blood, the strickening shortness of resources, and the cult of personality which surrounds Joe are just three. But these are largely ignored in favour of action sequence after action sequence and car chase after car chase. This is not to say that high-speed races and continuous destruction are not watchable on a purely superficial level, but when they come at the expense of the development of central themes, they do become tiresome rather quickly.

Thankfully, the technical brilliance of the film is not lost beneath the boldness and brashness of its spectacle. The work of the costume designers and make-up stylists in particular is nothing short of exceptional – outrageous enough to match the chaos of the dystopian world, but considered enough to lend it a sense of believability, too. The production design, meanwhile, is second to none. Startlingly original, fantastically creative and utterly epic in scope, Colin Gibson’s Oscar is more or less secured. The sound and visual effects teams, meanwhile, prove that they are more than up to the task of realising Miller’s lofty ambitions.

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Outrageous, chaotic and ingenious: the world of Mad Max.

Tom Hardy turns in a strong performance as the eponymous hero, but with only a handful of lines throughout the whole film he is easily overshadowed by the magnificent Charlize Theron, whose Furiosa mixes steely grit with just the right level of vulnerability. It’s rather refreshing to see a female take the lead in what is otherwise an incredibly masculine film, but Miller’s treatment of Joe’s ‘hareem’ – presented as nothing more than helpless, scantily-clad breeding stock – does limit any hopes for further subversion of gender roles. The real star of the film, however, is Nicholas Hoult, who delights as the pathetic, but generally rather likeable, Nux. Long gone is the pale-faced, awkward child from About a Boy; what we have in his place is a thoughtful and accomplished young actor.

Ultimately, though, the real driving force behind this dystopian epic is not the actors but rather the excellence of the technical craftsmanship. It is just a shame it is hindered by troublesome bumps in the road.

Awards Season Special: Room (2015)

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★★★★

Room is not what you would expect it to be. Its similarities to the notorious Josef Fritzl case are enough to suggest that it should be, by all accounts, a very dark, thoroughly depressing film. The story of a woman abducted as a girl and locked in a single room for years on end, completely isolated from the outside world and repeatedly raped by her captor, it is on paper clearly the most harrowing sort of tale imaginable. And yet, Room achieves the impossible by being so much more than this. Though it doesn’t shy away from the trauma of such a nightmarish existence, it is ultimately an extraordinary, life-affirming piece of work.

'Room' is a journey out of darkness, director says

Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay are sublime in Lenny Abrahamson’s Room (2015).

Brie Larson receives top billing as Joy (or “Ma”), the woman so cruelly snatched away from everyday life, but the film truly belongs to Jacob Tremblay, who portrays her son Jack with prodigious talent and ease. Born within the confines of the four small walls of “Room”, Jack cannot see the horror of captivity because it is all he knows. He cannot conceive of his captor being an abusive psychopath because he brings them treats on Sundays. There is an inherent beauty about Room’s belief that, even in the midst of the most bleak and hopeless type of existence, innocence can survive.

It would not be spoiling anything to say that much of the film actually takes place in the outside world, as a number of official trailers have already made this abundantly clear. But what is genuinely awe-inspiring about Room is its ability to show the world in an entirely new light. The most heart-pounding, touching moment of the film comes when Jack sees the sky for the first time – not through the lone window in Room, but for real. Director Lenny Abrahamson purposefully does nothing to make the sky look anything but dull, grey, and thoroughly ordinary. He doesn’t have to. To Jack, the thoroughly ordinary is nothing short of spectacular and terrifying and amazing. He is the lens through which the audience sees this brave new world; he sees the poetry in prose, and therefore so do we.

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Larson and Tremblay play Ma and Jack in Room.

There are strong supporting performances from the likes of William H. Macy and Joan Allen; similarly, Stephen Rennicks’ score and Emma Donoghue’s adaptation of her own novel are equally as sound. But ultimately these mentions pale in comparison to the towering contributions of Larson and Tremblay. Larson will easily pick up the Best Actress Oscar later this month, and understandably so given her deft handling of a complex role. However, it is a genuine travesty that Tremblay did not receive so much as a nomination. The film simply would not work without him and the genuine wonder and earnestness that he brings.

Ultimately, Room is a remarkable study of hope, innocence, and a mother’s love. It is a deeply moving film which is utterly worth seeing, if only because it will make you hear the world that little bit louder, and see it that little bit brighter.

Awards Season Special: The Big Short (2015)

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★★★★

Eight short years ago, the world found itself in the grip of the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. What had started in the upper echelons of the banking industry swiftly seeped its way into normal everyday life; businesses folded in their thousands, homes and jobs were lost in their millions. It was a global crisis felt on personal levels, and this is perhaps why The Big Short feels so relevant from the outset. It plays (very well) as a comedy, which is unsurprising given director Adam McKay’s credentials, but brimming beneath the surface is a seething and damning indictment of the corruption of the financial world.

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Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling in Adam McKay’s The Big Short (2015)

Put simply, it is the story of the select few who saw the impending collapse of the US housing market, bet against it, and made their fortunes in the process. Whilst ordinarily the temptation to despise characters who make money out of others’ misery would be all too inviting, so loathsome is the world by which they are surrounded that one cannot help but rejoice in their eventual victory at the expense of the banks.

 

It certainly helps that this unlikely group of chancers is portrayed by a brilliant (for the most part) ensemble cast. Christian Bale, Brad Pitt, Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling are, of course, the most recognisable faces, but they are underpinned by impressive performances from the likes of Finn Witrock, John Magaro, Hamish Linklater and Rafe Spall. Gosling is, perhaps, the weak link in this star-studded chain. However, what his somewhat flat performance lacks is more than made up for by the superb Carell in his performance as hedge fund manager Mark Baum. He predictably gets the most laughs, but it is his handling of the film’s more sombre moments where he truly shines. There is one particular scene, in which a shocked Baum learns of the global nature of the crisis and realises what its repercussions will be, where he appears so horrified, so utterly defeated, that he almost seems to visibly age on screen. It is a genuinely brilliant performance – one that is perhaps easy to overlook because of its many comic moments – from an actor who continues to go from strength to strength.

To a degree, the film is preceded by Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), which also offered audiences a glimpse into the machinations of Wall Street. However, whereas Scorsese’s epic unabashedly revels in the nauseating greed of abhorrent bankers, The Big Short thankfully makes no attempt to hide its disgust and contempt. What is also remarkably refreshing about The Big Short is that it doesn’t disguise the complexity of its subject matter. It knows that collateralised debt obligations, tranches, and ISDAs aren’t part of the vocabularies of standard filmgoers, but it refuses to simply dumb down. Instead, it invites the audience into this confusing , jargon-filled world with on-screen explanations and fourth-wall-breaking celebrity cameos. This approach will certainly not be to everybody’s tastes, and it does perhaps teeter close to the edge of being too self-aware – but it is at the very least original, and demonstrates McKay’s determination both to engage with his audience and treat them with intelligence.

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Christian Bale plays Dr. Michael Burry in The Big Short (2015)

The Big Short is a very funny film; it has a witty script and a cast of actors who know exactly how to pitch it. In the screening I attended, the laughter from the audience may as well have been a part of the soundtrack. The film works particularly well, though, because it knows when not to be funny. It knows that it is dealing with a very serious subject matter, and it uses the comedy as a tool with which to draw audiences in before hitting them with humbling, grave realities. The final product is a film which is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining – a very worthy contender for Best Picture at the upcoming Academy Awards.

Awards Season Special: Carol (2015)

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★★★★★

Carol is director Todd Haynes’s gift to cinema. What begins as a chance meeting between two women in a department store develops slowly, delicately, tantalisingly into a deep and true bond of love, played out in the shadows of a society that would never understand. It is an exquisitely crafted, beautifully shot gem of a film that moves and delights.

Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara shine in Todd Haynes’s Carol.

As Carol and Therese, Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara dazzle throughout. Blanchett laces her character’s maturity and forwardness with traces of trepidation; so timid and vulnerable is she when hinting her true feelings to Therese that she is barely able to make eye contact. Mara, meanwhile, is even more impressive in her turn as the younger of the two lovers, weaving Therese’s innocence and inexperience with firm determination and resolve. These are two very different – dichotomous even – performances, wonderfully imbued with subtlety and nuance. They complement each other spectacularly and the dynamic between them is electric.

 What Haynes has delivered is in many ways a cinephile’s dream. It is gorgeously shot on Super 16mm film, lending such grainy depth and texture to the picture that each frame could well be a photograph. Meanwhile Sandy Powell’s reliably remarkable costume design adds both flavour and genuine believability to a New York of times gone by. Haynes makes strong reference to the great filmic romances which have preceded Carol, most notably David Lean’s brilliant Brief Encounter, from which it borrows certain gestures and an element of structure. In so doing, the film poises itself to claim its own place among the ranks of the great on-screen love stories of our time.

Carol (2015)

It is wholly unsurprising that Carol has been met with near-universal thunderous critical acclaim. In one of their earliest meetings, Carol remarks that Therese is “flung out of space.” The film, like Therese, is positively stellar.

Awards Season Special: The Revenant (2015)

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★★

The fundamental problem with Alejandro G. Iñ֤֤árritu’s The Revenant is that it wrongly presumes that suffering is art. What could have been an epic tale of man against nature, of the unyielding strength of the human spirit, winds up being a seemingly endless slog which feels every bit as gruelling and as torturous as the journey which it depicts.֤

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Hugh Glass in Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s The Revenant.

On a purely technical level, the film is a success. It captures the harshness and bitterness of a raging American winter to such an extent that it will send a deep chill into your very bones. Emmanuel Lubezki’s cinematography – famous, now, for its exclusive use of natural light – is eerily effective with its use of low light, and will surely earn him his third Oscar in as many years. However, it is possible to appreciate the skill involved in the making of a film whilst recognising that the film itself is not particularly interesting. Stunning visuals do not a plot make, and are certainly not enough to carry a two-and-a-half hour film which contains very little semblance of a plot other than a draining, revenge-spurred trek through the mountains.

One would be foolish to bet against Leonardo DiCaprio’s chances of winning the Best Actor Oscar later this month for his performance as the determined fur trapper Hugh Glass. It is a rough, physical performance, with more said through grunts and glares than actual words. But as demanding as the shoot itself may have been (multiple stories have emerged of crew members refusing to work in the harsh shooting conditions of the Canadian wilderness in the winter), there is very little about the role itself which stretches his abilities as an actor – unless, of course, eating a raw bison liver ticks this particular box. He would, perhaps, have been better served by a more interesting character. The irony of Hugh Glass is that he is on the move for the entire duration of The Revenant, yet remains firmly static throughout. Hardened and weary though he may be by the end, he is essentially no different a person by the time the credits roll than he is when the film begins. This is not to say that DiCaprio is underserving of the trophy this year – but this has more to do with the lack of any viable competition than the strength of his performance. We have seen him do better.

Leonardo DiCaprio looks poised to win his first Best Actor Oscar, 11 years after his first nomination.

The Revenant is arguably the ‘Marmite’ contender of the awards season. In the screening I attended, audience members left early in their droves. Yet when the lights came back on, many of those who had made it all the way to the end raved about its brilliance. Few stand on middle ground where this film is concerned; you will either love it or hate it.

Awards Season Special: Sicario (2015)

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★★★★

Tense and heart-pounding from the outset, the terrific Sicario sees young FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) enlisted and embroiled in a conflict between the US government and a Mexican drug cartel. This is a film where less is more; the performances are wonderfully understated and the set pieces are brilliantly restrained. The final product is less an action-heavy, border hopping, all-guns-blazing depiction of one small fragment of the war against drugs (though when it does do these things it does them well) and more a thought-provoking meditation on the way conflict blurs morality.

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Sicario (2015)

Emily Blunt’s acting muscle was established a decade ago in The Devil Wears Prada, but in Sicario she is given the chance to flex. She is the human touch in a cold, hardened world which her superiors inhabit and even perpetuate. Naturally, she is brilliant in every scene she is in, and one cannot help but share in her pain and frustration as Kate realises she is simply an innocent pawn who exists to be manipulated in a wider, sinister game. But where Blunt shines brightest is every moment she shares on screen with Benicio del Toro, whose chilling Alejandro Gillick represents the seemingly immoral, self-interested antithesis of who Macer understands herself to be.

The film establishes that ‘sicario’ is the Mexican word for ‘hitman’. How fitting, therefore, that on every technical level it hits the mark. Roger Deakins’ cinematography effortlessly creates the dark, dirty world of the drug battlefield, while Johan Johansson’s score is equally as potent and atmospheric. Even the sound of a single bullet as it punctuates a deathly silence is profoundly startling and unsettling, and it is unsurprising that Alan Robert Murray earned an Oscar nod for his sound work here.

Emily Blunt is the beating heart of Sicario.

Sicario is arguably most effective when it is still. Its finest, edge-of-the-seat action sequence takes place in a stationary traffic jam; the brutality of the drug cartel is made clear when lifeless, headless bodies are shown hanging from a bridge; the grounding realities of the danger of the drug trade are made most evident by an empty bed. It is ironic, then, that the stillness of individual moments, which take place across two countries divided by one static border, is what stands out in a film that is otherwise interested in the constantly shifting moral boundaries in an ongoing war.

Awards Season Special: Joy (2015)

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★★★

In David O. Russell’s latest cinematic offering, working mum Joy Mangano (Jennifer Lawrence) endeavours to make something of herself whilst the mundanity of her family life threatens to ground her dreams and potential. In a fitting example of life imitating art, Jennifer Lawrence is tasked with the similar struggle of staying afloat despite the attempts of a clunky and lacklustre script to drag her down. Thankfully, like her real-life counterpart, she is not beaten.

Jennifer Lawrence dazzles in Joy.

In a nutshell, Joy tells the tale of the inventor of the Miracle Mop, whose rags-to-riches story was driven by her own creativity and entrepreneurial flair. As inspiring as Joy the character may be, though, there are glaring problems with Joy the film. The dialogue is painfully amateurish at best, miles away from the from the freshness of Russell’s script for Silver Linings Playbook and the originality of American Hustle. Tonally, it never works out exactly what it is trying to be, veering wildly between soapish melodrama and genuine efforts to present a believable biopic. The plot itself meanders about, eluded by a decent structure, floundering even at the notion of knowing where to end.

And yet, despite the flaws by which she is surrounded, Lawrence shines. She lights up the screen in every scene, and elevates an otherwise average film into something that is at the very least enjoyable and even somewhat engaging. Technically, she is perhaps too young for the role that she has been given; but Lawrence is Russell’s muse, and this was never going to be an obstacle for him. This decision pays off, too, because there is such a maturity about her that age does not matter for one moment.

Lawrence portrays the real-life creator of the Miracle Mop, Joy Mangano.

The film does have some merits beyond its central performance. Other acting highlights include a solid, reliable Robert De Niro in the role of Joy’s unstable, unreliable father, and an on-form Bradley Cooper as the QVC executive who gives Joy the break she needs. Moreover, a well-chosen selection of songs gives the film well-needed bursts of flavour not provided by its script.

The pervading idea of the film is that, every single day, “the ordinary meets the extraordinary.” It is a statement that is true of the Miracle Mop and a statement that is true of Joy itself. It is a wholly ordinary film met by a wholly extraordinary actress.