Joyride (2022 film)

Joyride is a 2022 coming-of-age drama film directed by Emer Reynolds from a screenplay by Ailbhe Keogan. It had its world premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh on 5 July 2022 and was released theatrically on 29 July 2022 by Vertigo Films.

Plot
Set in County Kerry, Ireland, this road movie follows 13-year-old Mully, whose mother Rita has recently died of cancer, and Joy, a solicitor, and her newborn baby. Mully's father James has stolen the cancer hospice money from the collection jar at Rita's wake, to pay off his debts. Mully takes back the cash and drives off in a taxi to return in, but then realises there are passengers in the back seat. Joy, overwhelmed by her needy newborn, seeing Mully's ease at caring for her child, proposes they travel together. They swap the taxi for a car in a used car lot.

Joy and Mully take the backroads to remain undetected as he is an unlicensed driver, and they could be stopped by the police. They quarrel at first but later bond.

The car runs out of fuel. As they walk to get more petrol, Mully proposes that they take turns asking and answering questions. When queried, he explains about the hospice money, and Joy shares her plans to give up the baby to her friend Mags and then fly to Lanzarote, as she has not bonded with the baby and does not know who the father is. Calling James from the petrol station, Mully is convinced by his father to head for a ferry, which Joy initially rejects. However, when a police checkpoint goes wrong, she changes her mind about the ferry, swapping for another car.

While waiting for the ferry, Mully helps Joy learn how to breastfeed Robin (she thought up the name upon seeing a robin alight nearby), as he observed with his infant sibling. She tells him that she and his mother were in the same class at school, Joy one of the brightest and Rita extremely beautiful.

Mully’s father catches up with them, and Mully convinces him to let Joy and Robin go with them in the car. They go to a B&B when Joy haemorrhages, so she can get cleaned up and rest. In the meantime, his father has thought up a lie, wanting Mully to lie to them at the pub, saying he stole the money then got robbed.

Joy calls up her childhood friend Mags, letting her know she had the baby one week early, her name is Robin and she has breastfed her. She then tells her about a repressed memory from her childhood. One day, she and her mother saw her father cheating; afterwards, Joy had gone into the sea. When she was caught by an undertow, she saw her mother hesitate to save her. Joy tells Mags she will be there soon.

The next morning, before leaving, Joy gives the hospice money back to Mully so he can return it. Hurt that she is leaving him and going through with giving away Robin, he lashes out, insulting her. In a daze and with an emotional crisis, she drops Robin off on Mags's doorstep, then drives on to Kerry airport in deep denial about her own nascent feelings.

Joy boards the Spain-bound plane but immediately has a change of heart. Insisting they let her off, she races back to find Mully. Locating him, he initially tells her off, but James appears, demanding the money. Joy tries to protect Mully from his father, but he races to the water, throwing the cash over his shoulder. His father retrieves the cash, while she fishes him out of the water.

The film ends with Mags calling Joy to pick up a distraught Robin, and she drives by the pub with Mully to return the stolen money and then to collect the baby.

Cast

 * Olivia Colman as Joy
 * Charlie Reid as Andrew "Mully" Mulligan
 * Lochlann Ó Mearáin as James

Production
In November 2020, it was reported that Olivia Colman would star in Joyride, which would be directed by Emer Reynolds from a script by Ailbhe Keogan. In June 2021, Charlie Reid was cast in the film after a casting search involving "1,500 applicants". As of 17 July 2021, Colman was spotted shooting scenes for the film in County Kerry, Ireland.

Release
In June 2021, Vertigo Releasing acquired U.K. and Irish rights to the film. It had its world premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh on 5 July 2022. It was released on 29 July 2022. Magnolia Pictures announced that they acquired the U.S. distribution rights and will release the film in U.S. theaters and on demand 23 December 2022.

Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a 50% rating based on 42 reviews, with an average rating of 5.5/10. The critics consensus reads: "Olivia Colman's performance is enough to carry Joyride over a few miles of credulity-straining incident, but this rickety road trip runs out of fuel long before it reaches its final destination." On Metacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 48 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".