If it hadn't have been for Phoenix's performance, this would have been a 3/10 movie.

Rating: 5/10 (17 February 2020)

This movie is not good. I'm sorry to all of those who may love this movie, but to me this movie was not what everyone kept telling me it was. When the movie came out, I didn't see it immediately, but all of my friends who went to go see it kept telling me that it was the movie of the year, and that I would be blown away by the movie. Months later, I finally saw the film, and I was generally entertained, especially by Phoenix's performance, but the story was not very well crafted, and the message of the movie was way too vague. I got that the movie was about the importance of mental healthcare, but they didn't do enough with that plot point.
Similarly, the theme of classism and that being detrimental to society was so forced and rushed into the plot that it seemed t like the movie was trying to get me to sympathize with the lower class of the city, but it wasn't developed so I didn't want to relate to them because they all just seemed like a bunch of ruthless killers who attack anyone who looks at them the wrong way. The whole movie I was trying to figure out what made this movie so great, but I just wasn't finding it. I understand that the movie was supposed to be a character study, and that it "doesn't connect to the DC universe at all," but that doesn't excuse a weak story with terribly underwritten characters.
I would be interested to see if they replaced Joaquin Phoenix with anybody else in the role if everyone that praised the movie would praise it as much because his performance elevated the character of Arthur Fleck. He deserved the Oscar because he made an uninteresting character into an interesting character with his peformance. Interestingly enough, the most interesting parts of the film were when he became the Joker and was admitting to the fact that he's crazy. However, despite the fact that those parts were good, I don't think this should have been a Joker movie, but rather something else, and they should rewrite the script to have a more specific theme.
I know I'm not being super kind to the movie, and I don't want to turn anyone off to the movie who want to see it, but my point of this review is this should have not been a Joker movie. If they wanted to make a character study movie about someone that has mental problems and is treated poorly by the upper class, this would have been much better as it's own separate thing, and been a bit more specific with what it was trying to say rather than "Classism is bad and we should tear it down because reasons."