Joke's on You

Rating: 1/10 (27 October 2019)

This film is about mental illness. Specifically, a mental illness called creative diarrhoea. In the film, a band of Hollywood's most insipid producers, writers, directors and other such riffraff suffering from this ailment got together for a group therapy session, in which the therapist, a Hollywood mogul, had them 'let it all out', gathered the refuse and flogged it off for a few hundred million dollars.
Seriously though, there is sooo much wrong with this movie. I won't even start with how I knew that a Joker sob story had no hope of (artistic) success, nor with why I went I went to see it anyway. I'll start by pointing out other reviewers' observation that this is not even the Joker. He's not suave, he's not witty, there are no lethal gimmicks, no morbid jokes, no anarchism, and he isn't a criminal mastermind. He's just a loser that goes off on a school shooter streak.
Secondly, this is not, as I said earlier, a film about mental illness. It is a mockery of it, cashing in on the increasing awareness about mental health. There is not one concept about psychosis or other mental health problems judiciously explored in the movie (an illness which causes the sufferer to laugh in inappropriate situations? Seriously?!). All you're getting here is a downtrodden loner being subjected to beatings and injustices designed to spark indignation in the viewer, then going off on a murder spree.
With regards to the much-praised acting, it's a mystery to me how anyone could have come to a judgement of Phoenix's theatrical achievement based off such an asinine script, because I can't. Not that you should devote an iota of attention to any of these positive reviews, because I'm fairly confident that there is some large-scale review rigging going on.
The plot is one dimensional and juvenile, the dialogue as engaging as a monotone nursery rhyme and the character development shallow. There were goofs left right and centre, like revolvers with zero recoil and 8 bullets. Why did Arthur keep dancing? Why did we need to see Arthur fondling himself? Why is he so emaciated? Why so much smoking? I watched so many close-ups of cigarettes burn out it makes me wonder if the film was sponsored by the tobacco industry.
The two positives in the movie for me were firstly, the final talk show scene, littered though it was with imperfections like the rest of the movie, which did have me sitting a little less slouched in my seat. Also, there were some interesting theories presented tying the Joker with the Batman.
With the bar set so high by The Dark Knight, no director seeking artistic acclaim will go near the Joker for many years to come, maybe ever, but on the other hand, the Joker character has been rendered a boon for Hollywood opportunists, and this is the second time we've seen the character butchered in a low effort high budget money maker. This one will be forgotten quick, but I don't know how long it will be before the Joker himself recovers.