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The lowest rated Best Picture nominee at the 2020 Academy Awards is Todd Phillips’ “Joker”. Currently at 68% with 543 reviews, the film stars Joaquin Phoenix as the eponymous villain. Based on the Joker character from DC Batman comics, Phoenix assumes the character of Arthur Fleck. Fleck is an unstable man who lives with his equally unstable mother in a dingy apartment in Gotham. Gotham has become a city of the haves and the have-nots. The elites attend parties and operas and live on well-manicured estates, while the rest of society lives in degrading filth and low paying jobs.
While working to become a stand-up comedian, Fleck loses access to his city-funded psychiatric care. He loses his job after bringing a gun to a children’s hospital. Fleck eventually snaps and murders three Wall Street types on a subway train. As his world begins to crumble around him, Fleck becomes enamored with a late-night talk show host who may be the key to his future success. Or is he just going to be another clown loitering in the fair city of Gotham?
Joker was released to something close to a moral panic. When the film won awards at its debut, the media was quick to denounce the film using an “incel controversy“. It was argued that the film would inspire countless young, angry men to follow in Flecks oversized footsteps and become a menace to society. Of course, that didn’t happen. But was the film deserving of such a media narrative?
The Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus reads: “Joker gives its infamous central character a chillingly plausible origin story that serves as a brilliant showcase for its star — and a dark evolution for comics-inspired cinema.”
In this episode of Reel Ripe & Reel Rotten, Wes and Clay discuss both the smiles and the frowns of Joker. The guys analyze the media coverage of the film and the film’s reception. They also discuss being caught between King of Comedy and Batman, what this movie’s Batman would be, and the Joker having a code.