Robert DeNiro, Jennifer Lawrence, and Bradley Cooper are reunited in the new film Joy, which opened Christmas Day, 2014. The trio are back at it again, pulling at heartstrings, and creating a brutally real movie based on the life and struggles of Joy Mangano (played by Lawrence) as she builds a business dynasty from the ground up.

The whole movie gives you the very real impression of struggling alongside Joy as the people in her life try to keep her down. Resilient to the end however, Joy overcomes betrayal, failure, and lack of support as she paves her own way into the business world.

DeNiro plays Joy’s father, a man who jumps from woman to woman, giving little thought to how anyone else feels towards his actions. You find yourself growing to resent him in a way that Joy never did for holding her back in his own selfish ways.

The end of the movie, however is hopeful and happy as you listen to the narration of Joy’s grandmother telling of all that Joy would go on to accomplish. While the movie was fantastic in its own way, I found myself wishing for more happy moments throughout more than just the ending. To its credit though, the somewhat dark and dreariness of the film only made it more real to what people go through every day.

I would recommend this film to anyone who enjoyed Silver Linings Playbook. 5/9 stars.