Tyler Perry’s Finding Joy review (2025)
Finding Joy might be more valuable for gold for director/writer Tyler Perry as this romance drama brings him back to a genre he arguably never should have left.
Perry has had a string of misfires, but his aim is pure and true with Finding Joy. This winning formula isn’t too complicated — it’s just a matter of Perry reeling in most of the dubious choices that left his most recent films flailing away aimlessly.
There’s no overly histrionic character dominating Finding Joy. There’s a welcome absence of goofy supporting characters and silly subplots. Outside of some questionable premise-establishing decisions, characters actually behave in a realistic manner. Perry also eschews any bizarre plot twists just for the sake of shocking the audience.
In most ways, Finding Joy is just a basic romance film with a generous sprinkling of comedic and dramatic elements.
Joy (Shannon Thorton, Mea Culpa) is an aspiring fashion designer. For now, she’s paying her dues working for the narcissistic Pat-Treek (Eric Stanton Betts), who’s even gone so far as to steal some of her designs for his latest fashion show. At least Joy has her best friends/roommates, Ashley (Brittany S. Hall, Ballers) and Littia (Inayah) to help her navigate her challenging career arc.
Things also seem to be going on the right path with her new love interest, Colton (Aaron O’Connell), who invites her to spend the holidays in Colorado with him and his family. The big question Colton asks isn’t exactly what Joy had in mind, leaving her distraught and desperate to immediately leave Colorado and return to New York.
MORE:
- Maintenance Required review (2025)
- A House of Dynamite review (2025)
- Predator Badlands review (2025)
- Superman and Lois – A Regular Guy review S4 E7
Joy ignores the numerous warnings of a dangerous storm en route and nearly gets killed in a terrifying accident. She gets rescued by Ridge (Tosin Morohunfola), who spotted her while he was out hunting for food. After Joy’s initial shock of being in a cabin with a stranger, she starts to realize he’s not some nut who saved her only to kidnap her.
Ridge isn’t thrilled at the prospect of having company infringe on his log cabin holiday getaway. It’s nice to watch a romance where the leads actually have believable chemistry. It makes the building to the romance enjoyable as their characters slowly start to realize they’re falling for each other. This is where Perry’s decision to avoid going rogue and play along with the guidelines of the genre work to Finding Joy’s favor.
Thorton could easily headline as many romance/rom coms as she chooses. She’s got a likeable, easygoing presence that always resonates with the genre. Morohunfola brings a genuine sense of authenticity to his performance where he doesn’t come off like he’s playing a character or a personality. It comes off very sincere.
The biggest misfire is maybe having a few too many scenes with Ashley and Littia getting high as they worry what’s happened to Joy. Even then, Perry’s instincts aren’t necessarily wrong as Hall and Inayah make for a funny pairing who play off each other very well and deliver solid laughs. They just have a bit too much screen time when the focus could just stick with Ridge and Joy.
Outside of some beautiful snow-covered Colorado backdrops, the sets are decent but hardly breaking the budget. About half of Finding Joy takes place in Ridge’s one room cabin yet thanks to consistently different perspectives, the newly shared living space rarely feels too limited in terms of properly telling the story.
Remove some of the course language and weed smoking and the film could easily be in rotation during the Lifetime/Hallmark Christmas movie season.
That’s hardly a knock as those films fill a necessary feel-good void this time of year. Perry shows he can easily put his spin on that formula and craft a film that should satisfy both hopeful and hopeless romantics. While that might not be a Christmas miracle, it certainly is a welcome development for future Perry films.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Photo Credit: Amazon
Check out Finding Joy on Amazon Prime.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.