We already saw Rooney Mara’s offering from the first Joker event, but there were more shenanigans there, and another event last night. So, let us catch up on the hats and purple and wacky Zazie Beetz confections. I’m curious: Who among you is looking forward to this movie? Necessary context for my reticence: I am not that into movies about killers, and I’m not comic-book person (the CW shows and very occasional Marvel movie viewings are my limit), so I wasn’t in a particular hurry for a case study on The Joker. But also, it feels like… I’ve read the reviews, like this one from Variety, about how Joaquin Phoenix’s character “stands before us not as a grand villain but as a pathetic specimen of raw human damage. Even as we’re drinking in his screw-loose antics with shock and dismay, there’s no denying that we feel something for him — a twinge of sympathy, or at least understanding.” No thanks. I’m sure I’m being simplistic, but: A movie asking me to sympathize with a white dude who turns violent just because he feels misunderstood, and whose outsider mentality drives him to bloody vengeance, is not a place in which I want to immerse myself right now. Such people are a bit too real for me these days, and turning it into Joaquin Phoenix dancing down a staircase to an eerie “Send In The Clowns” just makes me change the channel. I just can’t go there. Also clowns are the worst.
But, that’s just my reaction, obviously, and perhaps it’s too uptight of me. So: Does anyone want to see it? Has anyone seen an early screening? Is it worth the purported twinges of caring?
