| Director | David O. Russell |
|---|---|
| Budget | $60 million |
| Box office | $101.1 million |
In 1990, Joy Mangano, an airline booking agent residing in Peconic, New York, struggles financially while juggling a complicated family life. Living with Joy are her two children and her single mother Terri, who spends all day in bed watching soap operas, her maternal grandmother Mimi, and her under-employed ex-husband Tony, a wannabe singer who sleeps in the basement.
Joy's overachieving paternal half-sister Peggy constantly humiliates her in front of her children for her failed marriage. Joy's father Rudy further complicates matters when he also moves into the basement after his third divorce.
Mimi and Joy's best friend Jackie encourage Joy to pursue her inventing ambitions. Frustrated when using a conventional mop, she designs and builds an innovative self-wringing type. Trudy, a wealthy Italian widow Rudy is dating, agrees to invest in Joy's product. They contract a California company to manufacture the mop's parts at a low price.
To avoid a potential patent lawsuit, the company advises Joy to pay $50,000 in royalties to a man in Hong Kong who has a similar product. When the manufacturer repeatedly bills Joy to remake their faulty parts, she refuses to pay.
Joy meets QVC executive Neil Walker, who agrees to sell her mops on TV. To manufacture 50,000 additional units, she takes out a second home mortgage. When the first TV attempt fails after the celebrity pitchman improperly demonstrates the product, Joy demands she be allowed to do a second infomercial. The mop sells out, earning thousands of dollars; her success is soon tempered by Mimi's sudden death.
Joy's fledgling business is financially jeopardized after Peggy pays the manufacturer's excessive overcharges without Joy's approval. The manufacturer refuses to refund the money, and a contract loophole allows them to fraudulently patent Joy's mop design as their own.
Shortly after filing for bankruptcy, Joy discovers there was never a similar product in Hong Kong, and the manufacturer has defrauded her. She confronts owner Derek Markham, forcing him to refund the overcharges, pay damages, and relinquish any claim to her patent or face criminal charges.
Joy becomes a successful independent businesswoman who sponsors other inventors. Jackie and Tony are her most valued advisers. Joy supports her aging father, despite his and Peggy's unsuccessful lawsuit for ownership of her company. Only Terri is independent, having found stability with Toussaint, a Haitian plumber Joy once hired. As Neil predicted, he and Joy became "adversaries in commerce" with her move to HSN, but they remain personal friends.