Sigh.
I really tried with this one. I made it halfway. I’m not at all convinced that the director of the repellent, mean-spirited bro-“comedy” series The Hangover (2009-2013), Todd Phillips, is equipped for or interested in responsibly handling the art or the issues he chooses to evoke in Joker, as evidenced by the lack of any counterweight to the relentless self-pity within the film, and by his comments lamenting comedy and “woke culture” without. And yet, compelling things can come from earnest emulation and dive-bombing into deeper-than-ye-reckoned waters, so… eh?
Given the discourse surrounding this film (not to mention the calls coming from inside the house), this is perhaps an odd comment: but what bugs me the most in Joker is its use of words. None of the dialogue sounds the way people talk – and it doesn’t seem intentional (though it might if everything is in Arthur’s head?). Critical exposition happens through written text (Arthur’s condition; his mother’s belief that Thomas Wayne is Arthur’s father), which we are forced to read in real time. As has been observed elsewhere, the film presents only “straw men / women” who comprise “the society which acts as the primary antagonist to Arthur”. It feels like Todd Phillips found it easier to contrive an anachronistic ’80s metropolitan hellscape rather than situate his character and story in a current setting which might force his ideas to contend with nuance, complication, and, most importantly, implication.
In a world this two-dimensionally bleak, the character of Sophie (Zazie Beetz) is too unrealistic for the “reveal” to work as, it seems, intended – and, more importantly, she isn’t the foil to Arthur that the film needs. This contributes to the framing of Arthur’s “revenge” as being unambiguously righteous, given the relentless series of beat-downs, literal and otherwise, he receives.
Joker feels both clunkily, heavy-handedly manipulative, and petulantly self-pitying.
Compare with Taxi Driver, in which Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) is ultimately portrayed as neither complete victim nor unambiguous victor, which makes that film a more layered experience; where Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) acts as a barometer by which Travis’s misanthropy can measured; and, in crucial ways which Joker never dares, Taxi Driver is, at certain, very intentional moments, visibly embarrassed by its protagonist:
Martin Scorsese on the philosophy of shooting TAXI DRIVER (1976). pic.twitter.com/4RfxBE089m
— Auteur House (@auteurhouse) July 30, 2026
By contrast, Joker is uninterested in looking at itself critically, or considering its own statement. Joker seems fixated upon the devices and aesthetics of both that Scorsese/De Niro film and another, King of Comedy, while lacking (or not understanding?) the purpose, function, or meaning of those devices and aesthetics within those films. A remix isn’t inherently bad or inferior, but it invites comparison, and risks an unfavourable one.
I won’t wade into the hullaballoo – thankfully, here’s Now You See It to sit on the fence, perhaps not beside, but somewhere near me:
Wait, what:
Further Viewing
While opinions of the movie vary, there seems to be universal praise for two elements: the performance from Joaquin Phoenix; and the cinematography of Lawrence Sher – who offers a 15 minute masterclass, accessible to beginners, on colour in film: