"A Critique of Society"-Really?

Rating: 6/10 (13 October 2019)

The positives of this film are undeniable. Phoenix's performance is fantastic and will be looked at for years to come. The rest of the cast is also great, though all in service of Phoenix. The cinematography, pacing, editing, and direction are all some of the beat of the year. But the main problem lies with the script. Every rave review I've read has talked about Joker as a critique of society. And it definitely tries to be, but fails to keep a cohesive message. A lot of the film revolves around Arthur Fleck and his mother's struggle with poverty and dealing with a system controlled by wealthy elitists that don't care about the downtrodden. This is seen through the ending of funding for Arthur's therapy and meditation. Thomas Wayne is used to symbolize this, which was an effective choice. The problem with this message is that it is undercut several times by people contributing to Arthur's problems for reasons other than the system. The film starts with a gang of going kids attacking Arthur and contributing to his eventual firing from work. But the kids have no clear motivation besides being mean, which doesn't connect at all to the idea of a broken system. When Arthur is attacked on the train by the Wayne executives, their acts are out of cruelty and don't really relate to their socioeconomic status. These and a few other instances throughout the movie really beg the question of whether the main theme of the film is about a system that fails to take care of the disadvantaged, or that all people are just mean. This results in a film that acts like it has lots of incredible societal commentary but never goes deep enough into anything to actually say much of anything. To quote NerdSync, "The screenplay feels like it was written by a committee of edgy teens who totally think they're deep and interesting while never settling on a single, unifying idea or belief. Just 'people suck.'" So no, don't believe the hype. It's a solid movie that begins to fall apart under closer examination.