Tyler Perry bamboozled me with the trailer for this film. I can not remember when or where I saw this trailer, but I recall the trailer made it seem like Joy was a romance novel writer who would be torn between two men. That’s what I remember.
That’s not what this movie is about AT ALL. I can’t definitively tell you if I was pleasantly surprised or angry just yet. It will come to me as I continue. The men of “Double Toasted” had it correct when they reviewed this movie. We’re going to start with the middle because the middle of this movie is what you’re there for. “Finding Joy” is a Hallmark movie with a lil’ BET sprinkled in. The movie is literally about the main character, Joy (played by Shannon Thornton who I will refrain from calling Mississippi), finding herself…which would be joy. Get it…ok, so moving on. The good, juicy part of the film takes place in the cabin with just Joy and Ridge (played by Tosin Morohunfola who is fine!). We get a lot of depth from Ridge during these scenes and I like the progression from annoyance to tolerance to like to love. It was cute, but before we get to the good part of the film, we have to deal with, what I would like to call, a mess!
Remember when I said the trailer made me believe that Joy was a writer of fantasy novels? Well, turns out she just reads a lot of them and she is a seamstress for a famous fashion designer named Patreek (his name is just Patrick. I don’t know why people get famous and start requiring you to pronounce their name different). Her homegirls, Littia (pronounced Lydia and played by Inayah) and Ashley (played by Brittany Hall) recognize that the designs they see in the opening fashion show belong to Joy. Littia, specifically, is not happy about it, but when she confronts Joy, Joy tells her that Patreek owns her designs because she works for him and she has to pay her dues. Now, I’m not always the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to industries I don’t work in but designs you created in college in like 2019 do not qualify as belonging to this man. This was one thing that made me upset.
Moving to the next thing that made me upset–Colton. Colton (played by Aaron O’Connell who I loved to hate on “The Have and the Have Nots”) is supposed to be Joy’s boyfriend. Stay with me as I explain my annoyance. The opening scene is a fashion show. Her homegirls, that I mentioned before and who are also her roommates, talk amongst themselves (or expositional purposes) and tell us that this man doesn’t seem into Joy like he should. Here’s what angered me. We see, in this same scene, Colton blow Joy a kiss and she catches it. In the very next scene, he starts this “best woman” routine that we start to wee throughout the first half of this movie. He later invites her to meet his family, something that is paramount when you’re dating someone. When she gets to Colorado, she finds out that Colton is engaged. HOW?!! You just showed us this man blowing kisses at this woman. He invited this woman to Colorado because it was important that she meet his parents so he could ask her something very important all for the important thing to be him wanting her to stand next to him as he watches his bride walk down the aisle?! Tyler Perry, why would you set this lady up like this? And, yes, if you watched the movie and saw when she called her friends, I would be Littia where I would have to excuse myself to laugh so she couldn’t hear me because WHAT!!
I will say that that is the worst of it. She gets upset, throws herself out of a second story window, rents a car, and starts her journey from Colorado to NY. As you could imagine, she did not get far. Did I mention the town is also about to experience the worst snowstorm of the season in a few hours? She has an accident, as we expected her to have, and this fine, Black man who happens to live in the woods rescues her.
Insert typical Hallmark montage of two people who look great together but don’t like each other at first and then start to fall in love with each other after they tell secrets about each other. I yelled at the TV multiple times when Joy kept touching stuff in this man’s cabin. Leave stuff alone!
But, alas, the storm breaks and Joy and Ridge have to part ways and instead of telling one another that they love each other, Ridge decides to hurt her feelings. More typical we want the couple to get together but they are both upset at each other for various reasons montage. Fast forward to her back in NY. You will not get me to agree with her losing her job because she was trying to tell the truth but also cover for the man she worked under. Will not fly with me, but them coming back around to give her her own line…after talking to her professor that the big boss knew befuddled me. How did she get in trouble for telling the truth but then you confirmed she was telling the truth and she gets a new gig? What was the reasoning behind this, movie? Why was it more impactful for the professor to tell you that the sketches were hers and not her? Then, we just skipped to the end. There was no elaboration or time to see what the future looked like but whatever.
Here’s what should have happened. Stick with the love story. Sure, add her love for designing but here’s how that should have been done. Let’s say we keep her disgruntled with work. Let’s say we keep her being fired. While she was in the cabin with Ridge, she snagged a quilt his mom made for him before she died. Joy knew the stitching and the pattern. I would have made the ending where we saw her new line but it was inspired by Ridge’s mom’s friend who taught her how to stitch that quilt. Give us another fashion show as the ending of the movie where we see this. Also, take out Colton because this whole storyline is and was dumb. Then, the reasoning they gave behind his behavior was he had a lot of football injuries so he’s not really all there. Absolutely not. Make the Colorado trip for work or make it so she was going on a solo trip and she saw one of those exes she was talking about that didn’t love her. Then, make her storm out into the storm, run off the road, and get rescued by Ridge. Keep the cabin stuff the same. Keep him coning to NY to see her the same but add that fashion show at the end. Also, keep those best friends. They were the best part of this film besides Joy and Ridge in the cabin!
What did yall think? Did you remember that Tyler Perry had a new movie on Prime or did you forget like I did? (Sorry, Mr. Perry. I’m usually good about remembering when a TP original is coming out.)
