Ode to Joy (film)

Ode to Joy is a 2019 American romantic comedy film starring Martin Freeman and Morena Baccarin. The film premiered at the 2019 RiverRun International Film Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and was released theatrically on August 9, 2019.^[4]

Ode to Joy
Directed by	Jason Winer
Screenplay by	Max Werner
Produced by	Mike Falbo Jason Winer Michael Lasker Jimmy Miller Ira Glass Alissa Shipp Pamela Thur
Starring	Martin Freeman Morena Baccarin Jake Lacy Melissa Rauch Chris Distefano
Cinematography	David Robert Jones
Edited by	Peter Teschner
Music by	Jeremy Turner
Production companies	Mosaic Media[1] Small Dog Picture Company[1]
Distributed by	IFC Films
Release dates	April 4, 2019 (2019-04-04) (RiverRun International Film Festival)[2] August 9, 2019 (2019-08-09) (United States)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United States[1]
Language	English
Box office	$17,303 [3][1]

Summary

Charlie (Martin Freeman) is a Brooklyn-based librarian in his forties suffering from cataplexy, causing him to faint whenever he experiences strong emotions, especially joy.^[4] Upon meeting the charming and free-spirited Francesca (Morena Baccarin), Charlie falls in love but sets her up with his brother Cooper (Jake Lacy) instead because of his condition.^[5]

Cast

• Martin Freeman as Charlie, Cooper’s brother
• Morena Baccarin as Francesca, Sylvia’s niece
• Jake Lacy as Cooper, Charlie's brother
• Jane Curtin as Sylvia, Francesca’s aunt
• Melissa Rauch as Bethany
• Shannon Woodward as Liza
• Hayes MacArthur as Jordan
• Ellis Rubin as Victor
• Ravi Cabot-Conyers as Deangelo

Production

The film is based on a true story by Chris Higgins originally aired on This American Life.^[6][7]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 50% of 32 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.9/10.^[8] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 38 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.^[9]