I saw this movie a few months ago (Dec 26 here, hi!) at a turbulent time with Friends and I think it’s here if not a few movies later that I found out that everyone I was with was going to be having a gremlin at basically the same time? Anyway, from the first scene I turned over to my Friend and said, “WTF is happening right now,” and that feeling didn’t dissipate until the final scene was over. It is still astounding after a few months of processing, how a movie that was previously the highest grossing R-rated film of all time (only supplanted recently by Deadpool and Wolverine), could follow up itself with a subject matter so alienating to its original fans that they were completely and utterly trolled into watching a two and a half hour musical filled with Big Band songs sort of half-heartedly sung by Joaquin Phoenix and full-throatedly sung by Lady Gaga. It takes a lot of confidence to set yourself on fire after making a billion dollars, but Joker definitely did it in style.
All I wanted going into this was Lady Gaga to sing a few songs and I was not expecting her to be in the movie for more than really the trailer’s length of time, but wow! They really went all in on (Har)Lee! I think once my brain caught up to the fact that this wasn’t going to be a movie with a plot, my enjoyment of what was happening in front of me increased a lot. You do sort of have these pangs of anxiety when you’re watching, waiting for the momentum to pick up like it did in the previous film. And the fact that the film turns into an endless, grinding rehash of the first film, peopled with cameos of actors from that film explaining their roles and motivations as if we all haven’t just seen that film a year ago sort of wears on the brain a little, but then if you just grasp for the term “psychodrama” I think it prevents your brain from bleeding too much in your skull while watching. The courtroom IS the plot, you keep saying to yourself, to stop from wondering how it is that we’re two hours in and the case is still going on and nothing substantial has happened to advance the characters or action of the plot.
There are some mean tricks that the trailer plays on you–every fantasy sequence is a fantasy sequence. So it’s just an excuse for everyone to wear funny outfits and dress up a little bit to sing some songs in between the courtroom trial thing. In a lot of ways it’s probably more fun to watch the audience watching the movie than the movie itself. If you haven’t done this already, ask one of your friends, probably the one that wants to tell you the plot to Godfather, to watch this movie with you and bring up Robert DeNiro and Deerhunter or Taxi Cab and then sort of make some popcorn and watch them as their hopes and dreams are dashed in real time. The songs, especially the rain-piano-escape sequence are really fun.
