Not much to laugh about

Rating: 4/10 (14 October 2019)

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS ...
Joker is a VERY predictable film that openly plagiarised other films, particularly Martin Scorsese's THE KING OF COMEDY and Brad Anderson's THE MACHINIST, and whoever choose the totally inappropriate music score needs shooting.
Joker is a hard watch, NOT, because of its action (or distinct lack of it), but because it is VERY dark and just depressing throughout.
Not a lot of thought seems to have gone into this picture which based around a very flimsy, simplistic plotline.
Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), a socially inept, grotesque and emanciated outcast living at home with his ailing Mother, works as a children's clown and as a part time human advertising slogan board for local two-bit shops and businesses. He suffers from a medical condition (evidently a form of Asperger's syndrome) that causes him to laugh manically and uncontrollably at the most inappropriate times getting him into a series of sticky situations and violent beatings.
Arthur's only hope for salvation (he believes) is to succeed in comedy - an art at which he sucks. His hero is the talk show host Murray Franklin (played by Robert De Niro - in an almost mirror image of his portrayal in Martin Scorsese's KING OF COMEDY).
The frequent beatings continue unabated, until eventually (and so VERY predictably) the worm turns ... and Arthur (whilst still in his clown's make-up) fights back and kills three assailants on a subway train ... which, (inexplicably) leads to a sizeable faction of down and outs and criminals in Gotham City rising up, to praise the "Killer Clown" and they start rioting against society.
Murray Franklin notices Arthur in one of his show's audience and chats to him on-stage, leading to what Arthur believes a connection between them.
The Gotham riots continue support of the Killer Clown antics and killings which escalate and get much closer to home after Arthur loses his job.
Eventually, Arthur gets his dream big break, with a guest slot on the Murray Franklin show ... but, by now, he wants to be introduced as Joker.
When Joker realises that he is being laughed AT rather than laughed WITH, the Joker takes a terrible revenge.
Ultimately, Joker, as a film ... quite simply ... JUST DIDN'T GO FAR ENOUGH, into what COULD HAVE BEEN, with a bit more forethought and a much better script/director, an intriguing insight into what would be the REAL motivation behind what would create a character like the Joker and his ultimate downward spiral into madness.
Joaquin Phoenix may have lost 24kg to play the role as the emanciated anti-hero... but, I just can't help comparing on just how much better Heath Ledger and Jack Nicholson were as the Joker.