Good acting, bad and contrived writing

Rating: 5/10 (30 December 2019)

The movie relies heavily on the blurred distinction between the fantasies of a lunatic and reality, the reason why that doesn't work well is that what's supposed to be real is about as absurd and implausible as the fantasy. The story hinges on one of the worst plot points, which is that the film's idea of Johnny Carson would somehow get his hands on broadcast quality footage of an open mic night (in 1981...), then somehow find that a mentally imbalanced nobody (in a city filled with such people) bombing hard on his first try would be worth ridiculing on his show. That could almost work if it was justified by the footage itself, but the footage that is played many times has nothing extraordinary about it, it's just a weirdo struggling with his routine, and strictly nothing about it justifies inviting such an irrelevant sick man on his show to ridicule him further. Again, imagine Carson or Letterman doing that. So the fantasies of the joker aren't counterbalanced by the sober reality, the reality is just as bizarre, and that's how the movie fails to achieve suspension of disbelief.
Every other plot point that carries the plot forward is about as bizarre and unrealistic, starting with the other clown who just hands out a handgun currently worth $600 to $2,000 to his weird coworker who is supposedly disliked and feared by all, the rich subway-riding Wall Street traders picking fights with deranged clowns (Jussie Smollett's infamous tale sounded more plausible), the poorly justified uprising and the contrived retconning of the Wayne parents murder, not to mention Joker being about 30 years older than Bruce Wayne. My point is, the writing is atrocious, fanfic-tier, but the actors do a decent job despite the absurd material they had to work with. Hollywood is filled with top talent, except when it comes to writing, somehow this keeps going to absolute hacks.