Tyler Perry’s new romantic comedy, Tyler Perry’s Finding Joy, centers on how love can arrive in unexpected ways.

The lighthearted film stars P-Valley‘s Shannon Thornton as Joy, a talented New York fashion designer trying to navigate life while facing challenges in both her professional and romantic life.

An icy twist of fate

Guided by her favorite romance novels, Joy sets out on a quest to find love, believing that a spontaneous mountain retreat with her questionable crush, Colton, will lead to her happily ever after. But her plans take an unexpected turn — one that literally plunges her into icy waters.

After being rescued during a dangerous storm by a reluctant cowboy named Ridge, played by Tosin Morohunfola, Joy finds herself unknowingly living out the plot of her own romance story.

“I think it’s something that everybody can relate to,” Thornton told Blavity’s Shadow and Act during our cast interview when talking about stories of finding love and looking for what we all want, but it turns out to be completely different.

The film follows the evolution of Joy and Ridge’s relationship as both characters gradually open up and release their inhibitions about love. Notably, it avoids the portrayal of “struggle love” that has appeared sometimes in other Black romance films, offering a different kind of onscreen love story.

She continued, “I love telling the story of somebody who, despite everything she’s been through, was still kind of optimistic about love and still allowed herself to fall,” adding, “It was something about her naivete that was very endearing for me. I love that about her, like not having a chip on her shoulder despite everything that she’s been through.”

Finding Joy also highlights friendship. Joy’s best friends, Ashley (Brittany S. Hall) and Littia (Inayah), bring a mix of sisterhood, humor and heart.

The two have different approaches when it comes to supporting Joy through her love journey, but when she suddenly falls off the grid in Utah, they work together to find her.

“You just gotta love people through it,” Hall said when asked about how Ashley showed up for her friend.

“When you have friends who you feel like are making those kind of delusional choices, you really can’t save them from it, but you can be there, whenever the outcome doesn’t go their way, to really love them through it.”

While Hall’s character offered gentle support, Inayah’s friendship style was more direct.

“I’m gonna shake you on your shoulders and say, ‘Hey, that ain’t it,’” she said, adding that her character mirrors her real-life personality.

“I’m the realest friend, you know what I mean? Whether it’s blunt, sweet, you get offended… it all comes out of love. But it was very easy to tap into who Littia was because I’m crazy as hell like that in real life,” she added with a laugh.

How the characters build a connection

During their time in isolation, Joy and Ridge unpack past experiences with love, family and loss, building a connection that feels significant.

“She says something to the effect of, ‘I always love people who don’t love me back,’” Thornton said of her character’s optimism.

She added, “What’s missing in this is that you don’t see onscreen a lot of the trauma. She makes mention of it, but you don’t see it,” concluding, “I love how lighthearted it is. I love how she finds love in this beautiful and unexpected way.”

Tyler Perry’s Finding Joy is now streaming on Prime Video.