“Joy” starring Jennifer Lawrence, directed by David O. Russell, is just starting to screen. I can’t review the film until next week, but I can tell you now that Lawrence is back in the Oscar race, and Russell has outdone himself.
There are some surprises in “Joy” for soap opera fans, too. In the film, Joy’s mother watches one soap opera for years in the background while the main action is going on. Virgina Madsen plays the mom, and she’s a hoot.
Russell decided to film scenes from his own fake soap rather than use clips from a real one. So he tapped the most famous soap star of all, Susan Lucci, aka Erica Kane from “All My Children.” She’s joined in the scenes by Laura Wright and Maurice Benard, who play Carly and Sonny on “General Hospital.” Their antics go on and on in the background and it’s all very amusing. It’s not throwaway either– they are featured.
There are some other interesting cameos in “Joy,” too– notably Melissa Rivers doing a dead on impersonation of her mom, the late great Joan Rivers on the set at QVC, where Joan is the number 1 pitchwoman of jewelry. Kudos to Melissa.
One thing about “Joy” no one can figure out– the name of her product, Miracle Mop, is never mentioned. Neither is Joy’s family name, Mangano, although the real Joy Mangano is promoting the movie on her Twitter account. There have to be legal reasons, and I guess we’ll know them soon enough.
