One of the best horror comedies of the year

Rating: 6/10 (5 October 2019)

I could see Joaquin Phoenix winning an Oscar for his performance. His Joker is like Tom Brady to Heath Ledger's Joe Montana. Joe was the best quarterback of all time. There would never be another quarterback as great or greater than him despite the fact that Terry Bradshaw also won 4 Super Bowls. I hate the cheater Tom Brady; but I thank God and Bill Belichick for Tom Brady so everybody can shut up about Joe Montana. That's how good Joaquin Phoenix is in this movie. Sorry Heath, R.I.P. Heath Ledger's Joker jumped the shark when he killed Michael Jai White's character fresh off of him playing Spawn. He lost me right there.
The kids are in school so I got to see a matinee in a relatively sparse theater. I burst out laughing several times and I was the only one laughing. I am not sure if I was supposed to laugh. In light of recent events in the real world I wonder how a packed audience will react to Robert Deniro's character getting killed by Joker. By the time he meets his fate I was totally sympathetic to Joker as he was being lambasted by Robert Deniro much like Mr. Deniro has been lambasting President Trump. That scene was very surreal.
I would recommend this movie; but it could have used a cameo or two from a super hero or super villain. It was an interesting character study up to the point where it started to get boring. I hung in there and the pace picked up and it finished with a bang.