Finally A Movie Without Bad Jokes

Rating: 7/10 (10 October 2019)

This is not sarcasm. Joker is a mainstream, wide-release movie which manages to not conform to cookie-cutter writing and directing, tries and often successfully conveys a meaningful message, and it definitely deserves some praise, 1 or 2 repeat viewings. And most of the jokes were hilarious.
Joker is a good character study, but it has a bunch of problems. One can see lots of reviews praising it as the best movie of the year/all time, that Phillips is a great director, and that Phoenix is just perfect. The story is a bit muddled. It could have done without the Wayne family's inclusion, with just their names and importance to the plot. The story is good, but it tries hard to be smart and hits you over the head with reveals instead of being subtle and clever with its setups.
However, Phoenix' performance elevates the movie. His and Frances Conroy's are great. He is always mesmerizing to watch in anything he is in, but this was very visceral. It's hard to empathize with his character most of the time, but we become aware of the political messages of the movie, which is pretty hard to miss and very spot on.
This movie is very similar to Taxi Driver, but not as well written. It's well directed and the actors do a good job. It is far from the best movie of the year, since Parasite came out in 2019 as well, but Phoenix performance is what most will remember. I hope all following DC movies will be a lot more "real" like Joker, with better writing and smaller budgets, no CGI, just character studies of crazy villains in a real world.