Holy Cesar Romero's Moustache...!

Rating: 10/10 (21 October 2019)

I always go to the one-star reviews first, as the ten star reviews of movies I like will just echo what I think. I like to see what someone who DIDN'T like the movie has to say - "OK, convince me".
The one-star reviews are hilarious - they range from the "I'm different to everyone else!" cries for attention to the jealous, possessive moans of those people who think that THEIR character or story has been taken from them and turned into something they don't like. Basically no-one convinced me - I didn't read a single thing that maybe think "Hmm, maybe they have a point. I hadn't noticed that".
For this is a perfect movie. Even to a superhero agnostic like me. The performance of Joaquin Phoenix beggars belief - from his physical transformation to the acting turn he puts in. I can't imagine anyone in the history of acting portraying this character to such devastating effect. I won't go on, because, as I said, it has all been said in other reviews - suffice to say that I'll be amazed if another movie tops this in my view in 2019. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood might have run it close with 20 minutes shaved off but as it stands, Joker reigns supreme, awards season notwithstanding.
I wondered why the left had took agin this movie, which is no more or less violent than many movies, superhero or no. (And speaking of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, I heard someone on a podcast say they walked out when someone started inflicting violence on a woman. (This was a woman intent on slaughtering people, including an unborn child) So you waited till ten minutes from the end to stage your big protest!?) Then I found out. Apparently Todd Phillips said "Woke culture has killed comedy". Big mistake! The memo went out. The Hive Mind was apprised. Nothing he did was ever to be favourably reviewed again. Good. More room in the cinema for me.