Joyride

I enjoyed the varied pace and well played characters. The young man was a convincing actor and his character, Mully, had a good heart. The conflicted Joy was performed truthfully by Olivia Coleman, although the accent slipped once or twice. She was only about 47 when she played Joy, an age when many women are still capable of conceiving a baby! The father was a little two dimensional, fixated on the acquisition of money, not being a loving parent, and seemingly not grieving his deceased wife. The story was filled with many of the contradictions and tribulations common in life. It was genuine to those dichotomies and still had a hopeful ending.

Joyride

Overall this was a mixed bag of a movie. On the one hand it attempted to be profound with comments on parenting, childhood baggage, what it means to be a mother and sometimes blood is not thick than water, and then attempted humour in a farcical vane.

The script struggled and showed little emotional intelligence, connecting with another human being does not a parent make. You could see the actors struggling with the often stilted script, which fell apart in the denouement.

To believe the contrived happy ending was absurd and I certainly wasn't convinced. The acting was at best pedestrian and at it worst performative.

This is barely watchable so I'm giving it a 4 outta 10, with Olivia not all that glitters comes in the shape of an Oscar statuette.

The plot is definitely messy at time's and it's probably a wee bit smultzy in places.

However it's a charming film with great acting.

Probably more a TV film than one for the cinema.

Definitely worth a watch though.

I watched this on my flight home from England, and I cried so many times just from being so emotionally invested. It was charming, raw, and endearing. It was a real testimony to how humans of any age need someone they can lean on and trust. That someone just supporting you can get you through. I found this to be a beautiful, heartfelt film. Olivia was AMAZING as always, and I wept watching her struggle to let her guard down and to let herself welcome love. I don't understand the low reviews, unless you just do not understand what the story was trying to portray. There was a wholesome juxtaposition of a young boy forced to care for himself and be tough, while deep down missing his loving mother..and a woman forced into motherhood, unsure that she has what it takes to give her baby the love and care she needs. I found it beautiful in how simple it was.

Emer Reynolds has produced a very successful director.

Olivia Coleman and Charlie Reid make a great duo team. Although it was Reid's first major project, he performed successfully in front of a great actress like Coleman. Ray Harman's compositions and Aibhe Keogan's scripts are very good. I love candid films that tell little stories like this. Everyone watches blockbuster movies now... Cinema has lost sincere films...

If there is a blu-ray edition, I will definitely buy it.

I hope movies like this continue to be made and the cinema doesn't give in to movies that make millions of dollars but don't have a soul.