Joyride starring Olivia Colman: release date, trailer, cast, plot and everything we know (2024)

Joyride is an upcoming coming-of-age movie starring Olivia Colman, and it's out very soon!

Joyride is the latest film from Emmy award-winning Irish filmmaker Emer Reynolds (Songs for While I'm Away, My Name is Emily), and it sees Colman's character, Joy, forming an unlikely bond with a young boy called Mully.

Reynolds has described it as a "huge-hearted, wickedly funny and emotional story about hope; a story of how we can heal the wounds of our past with love, spirit, and courage."

In the film, Mully steals a taxi whilst trying to get away from his father. Mully's soon shocked to find Joy (and her baby) sitting in the backseat, and the two then set off on a riotous adventure together.

Here's everything we know about Joyride so far.

Joyride release date

Joyride is due to be released in UK and Irish cinemas on July 29. At the time of writing, we don't yet know if the movie will get a theatrical release in the US; we'll be sure to update this section of our guide as and when we hear more.

You can check out the poster for Joyride below:

What's the plot of Joyride?

Joyride has been penned by Ailbhe Keogan (Run and Jump, Take Me Swimming).

The full synopsis for Joyride reads: "In Co. Kerry, Ireland, 12-year-old Mully has lost his mother, and discovers his debt-ridden father stealing the charity money they’ve raised in her name. Grabbing the cash, Mully steals a taxi and is shocked to find a woman, Joy, in the back seat with a baby. A straight-talking solicitor who didn’t expect to get pregnant, Joy is struggling with motherhood and planning to give her baby to a friend who will raise the child as her own.

"She joins Mully on a wild journey across Ireland, stealing cars, hitchhiking, catching ferries, and breaking police barricades. Mully’s father is in hot pursuit and Joy is desperate to escape and leave her life behind. But these two outlaws gradually bond, discovering that both felt unloved by their parents, yet both have a lot of love to give. Together, they find a happier way to journey through life and find love in each other.

Who's in the cast of Joyride?

Following on from star turns in The Crown and The Lost Daughter, Colman stars as Joy, a complicated solicitor who was planning to give away her own baby.

Talking about her character, Colman said: "She's very independent, quite fierce, you find out a bit about her upbringing and her possible lack of love from her mum. I think that's why she can't settle with anyone and she looks for affection in one-night hookups and things like that because it's easier to deal with.

"I think it's all too hard. And partly why she doesn't want this baby is that she doesn't want to be as bad as her mum and is terrified of that. Lovely Mully makes her realise you're not your mum, you can be better."

15-year-old Irish actor Charlie Reid stars opposite Colman as Mully. Talking about the night he got the part, Charlie said: "I got Mully and it was the best night in my life. And then I went through the script with my mum, and it's an amazing script. It's a beautiful, nice-hearted script. It's a script for everyone, it really touches you."

Lochlann Ó Mearáin (Outlander, The Musketeers) plays Mully's father, James. Although it would be easy to write him off as a bad guy, Lochlann wanted to find a way to bring out his human side.

"On paper, it's very easy to look at James as a two-dimensional bad guy", Lochlann said. "My job is to make him a real person. So even though he is responsible for endless acts of manipulation and deceit and theft, he's doing it because he thinks it's the right thing to do. He's trying to look after his family."

Is there a trailer for Joyride?

Yes! The Joyride trailer gives us a glimpse at the friendship that the pair form on their journey across Ireland after Mully inadvertently kidnaps Joy and her baby. It allows shows us just a few of the scrapes that they get themselves tangled up in along the way!

Check it out below:

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