Tyler Perry puts a twist on the classic holiday movie genre with his latest romantic comedy, Finding Joy.
The film, currently available on Prime Video, depicts the unlikely love story of Joy and Ridge, played by Shannon Thornton and Tosin Morofunfola. The plot centers on Joy (Thornton), a New York-based fashion designer who is ignored at work. With the encouragement of her friends Ashley (Brittany S. Hall) and Litia (Inaya), hopeless romantic Joy follows her crush Colton (Aaron O’Connell) to Colorado to meet his family, believing that the trip will take their relationship to the next level. However, upon arrival, Joy’s crush reveals that he has a fiancé, and she is quickly friend-zoned. Joy attempts to book a flight back to the city, but ends up stranded in the middle of a snowstorm and gets into a near-fatal car accident. Ridge (Moro Funfola) not only saved her life, but also changed her outlook on everything, especially love.
But Finding Joy isn’t your typical Hallmark movie about a successful single woman in the big city who discovers a new appreciation for Christmas in her small town after falling in love with a handsome local man. Instead, the film separates itself from the genre’s cheesy elements by inviting audiences on a heartfelt journey that explores the true meaning of love, resilience, and personal growth found in unexpected situations. Additionally, Perry focuses on spotlighting black love.
“It’s black,” Thornton told Variety, highlighting what makes this story unique. “This is the Black experience. That’s how we really talk to each other.”
For years, audiences have criticized Perry for perpetuating negative stereotypes and centering black women in limited stories of struggle, hardship, and trauma. But “Finding Joy” departs from those tropes, combining themes of grief, heartbreak, and sisterhood to emphasize hope, healing, and the transformative power of love.
“I love that it’s just unexpected, and they’re kind of just doing what they feel like instead of actually playing the game,” Thornton says. “They’re forced together in almost unnatural circumstances, but they come together in a beautiful and unexpected way. It’s a really great, really endearing way to show Black love on screen.”
Shannon Thornton, Inaya, and Brittany S. Hall in “Finding Joy.”
Chip Bergman/Prime
Working with Perry was an adventure in itself. It wasn’t Thornton’s first time working with Perry – she had a supporting role in his Netflix film Me Culpa – but it was the first time they both had Perry in a leading role.
“He welcomed me with open arms,” Morofunfola says of his first meeting with Perry. “He empowered me to feel like I could make the character my own and at the same time honor his vision. I knew I was in good hands.”
However, since Perry is famous for his fast production schedule, it took some getting used to. Finding Joy was shot in just five days, so the pressure was on.
“It was a fun and exciting challenge for me as an actor,” Thornton says. “I’m thinking, ‘What can I do with all this time without relying on multiple takes?'” I’m really happy with what I was able to do in the limited time I had. ”
But Thornton can’t take all the credit for memorizing the script so quickly. Perry had a group of readers on set who helped him pass the lines. “I didn’t know if I could do it or if I could memorize so much in such a short period of time, but I did it,” she added. “As an actor, I was able to make very honest choices, but still completely immerse myself in it and have very few subtle moments.”
Aaron O’Connell and Shannon Thornton in “Finding Joy.”
Chip Bergman/Prime
Viewers may recognize Thornton as Keyshawn from the Starz series “P-Valley.” However, her role in the ensemble drama did not compare to the role required for her first starring role in a film, and she struggled with “impostor syndrome” and “self-doubt.”
“I had a little experience while filming Season 2 of ‘P-Valley’ when Keyshawn had his own episode. I had this little feeling in my stomach that was like, ‘Can I do this? Can I carry something like this on my own?’ ” Thornton says of preparing for the role. “It’s those little moments where you doubt yourself, and you have to say, ‘I deserve to be here. I’m going to take all the great things that are coming my way. I’m absolutely capable.’ That’s the training, all the hard work that I’ve put in over the years to get to this moment.”
This is one of the ways Thornton resonated with Joy, whose pursuit of starting her own fashion line was similar to Thornton’s journey as an actor. (Thornton lived in New York for 11 years trying to get her big break.) “That’s how I can relate to her,” says Thornton, who shared a similar backstory with the character. “The hustle and bustle of waking up and having something to do and a place to be. The discomfort of your situation becomes the catalyst that propels you forward.”
Similarly, while Morofunfola empathized with Ridge’s rural upbringing (she grew up in Greensburg, Kansas, where Morofunfola’s family was the only black family in the small rural town), it was the love story between the two characters that resonated most.
“It happens all the time, people you thought you weren’t connected to somehow feel connected and unlock something inside you that you never knew you needed to unlock. That’s a human thing,” he explains. “I’ve experienced it in the past too. The best part of life is when the magic of love happens in unexpected places.”
Morofunfola admits he’s not a big fan of holiday movies, but when he first read the script for Finding Joy, Ridge’s range of emotions stood out to him.
“Not every holiday movie has depth, and that’s what drew me to this movie,” he explains. “When I saw Ridge, I immediately saw him as a more than two-dimensional person. He has a rough exterior, but underneath he’s a vulnerable, loving, caring person who needs the help of the right people to bring that out.”
He added, “I’m always looking for characters with layers that remind me of the men I’ve seen in my life that I can relate to. There are a lot of people walking around with pain, so they may seem tough on the outside, but they can love just like anyone else.”
Morofunfola hopes audiences will walk away from the film having learned something about love.
“This movie does a great job of depicting that love doesn’t care about boundaries,” says Morofunfola. “Joy thinks she’s upper class and above Ridge as a city girl. Ridge is a country bumpkin with no interest in social media or basic modernity. But it doesn’t matter how different they are culturally, because what unites them is stronger than any of those things.”
Shannon Thornton “Finding Joy”
