The People's Joker

So I'm going to give everyone a full disclosure with this - I am not really into superhero movies. I don't generally dislike them, however what I dislike about the majority is it's either Joss Whedon style cracks at the expense of a sincere take on the story OR Zack Snyder style "I WANNA BE DARK!" edgy that it goes beyond the point of seriousness. The thing is I don't think it's so hard to tell a story that both can be a serious take on the characters AND ridiculous enough to be a fun ride. Also both are full of characters that are homework assignments for people who don't know who these people are and...the idea of "follow the brand that made the movie" ALWAYS sounds like the most boring way to actually engage with the way a movie is made.

This movie...is NOT a serious take on the story or characters. More it's a parody movie which kind of sort of retells the story of Joker (2019) but with a transfemale protagonist and director. There is a lot that gets reshaped to fit the needs of what that premise means for the story but if you want a "general gist" - that's it.

Now there are a lot of comic book references in this movie but I don't think it's impossible for someone to like this movie who has no idea who half the characters or scenes being parodied are. I do find that one scene that I recognized as being parodied and was objectively better here is the scene in Joker (2019) where he dances down the stairs. In this movie that scene is recreated but they replace Gary Glitter with a parody of the Prince song that played in the museum scene in the '89 Batman movie (insert "I did see these movies as a kid" disclaimer here). Cultural erasure of Gary Glitter will never be a bad thing to me.

Now a lot of what I've seen online in relation to this movie is people going in expecting this to be AS polished as the Hollywood stuff and getting disappointed (also slurs and people simping over companies keeping IP rights from the public forever, but I want to keep on track). You will not get that. The visuals rely on character identities getting swapped out a lot (people become 2D drawings, dolls, some characters are 3D animations that are uncanny valley). The amount of work that goes into animation like that suggests to me that the visual style of this movie being so disjointed is very deliberate.

So, if I don't like the genre and admit this movie can be pretty visually disjointed, why am I giving this movie a pass? Honestly because this movie isn't REALLY about comic book characters. It uses that as coding. "This person was a villain" "this person was a hero" and...deconstructing the idea of both. The movie outright dismisses the idea that any one person is a complete hero or a total villain. It's more a story of what we bring to it. Now that might not be very deep to some but my experience of comic book movies is they almost never bring that up. So it was nice to see that and I think it's worth a point for "just because I've heard it doesn't mean everyone else has or that people don't need to hear this."

Now I've talked serious for a bit, what about the "parody" aspect? I'll be honest in that it did get a few decent laughs out of me here and there. Now that's not going to be a sell for everyone as humour is very subjective and my sense of humour is NOT the kind that's applicable to everyone. So the best I can do is try to deconstruct some of the jokes but I don't really want to explain "Why did the clown jump into a vat of feminizing hormones at a chemical storage plant? Because gender health is inaccessible, even in comic book movies" Just...that made me laugh.

So, yeah. I know not everyone seemed to enjoy this but I think it's a cool little film.

I was intrigued by the inclusion of Bob Odenkirk, Tim Heidecker, and Scott Aukerman in this movie, but was let down so bad. Vera Drew did work on On Cinema at the Cinema and Comedy Bang Bang, so I thought this would be interesting. I feel misled by a lot of the promotions for this movie. What put me off was the lack of sets, the cheesy acting, and the non-funny storyline. It's mostly a monologue about the hardships of being trans. I understand the lifestyle of a transgender person is hard, but this was severely wrongly marketed as a film that would appeal to audiences who wanted to see comedy and comic book action. It had neither. The comedians were horrible, to put it lightly, and the unsatisfactory comic book action was mostly done with bad animation and/or action figure stop motion. It was nauseatingly bad. I don't even think it qualifies as comic book knowledge with the references; it was more like pop culture knowledge. While I don't think comic books are that cool to begin with (I like the ones from the 40s and 50s the most), this movie made them seem lamer. Bob Odenkirk, Tim Heidecker, and Scott Aukerman are voice-only in tiny, miniscule parts. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone except trans people who might love comic book movies. The editing was alright, and the energy of some of the lead actors was alright, but everything else was terrible.

Recently, I had the pleasure of attending the premiere of The People's Joker at New York's famous IFC Theatre. Delightfully, lead actress/director/writer Vera Drew also attended to answer some fan questions. Parodying Todd Phillip's 2019 blockbuster Joker, The People's Joker reimagines the tears of DC's clown from a transsexual coming-of-age point of view. Initially imagined as a re-edit of Phillip's Joker, Vera Drew journeyed down a rabbit hole that film enthusiasts only dream of. Produced through the pandemic, The People's Joker persevered through many different iterations and exactly 69 different cuts before Drew settled on her perfect vision. After a possible rights issue, the movie was pulled from its intended premiere at the 2022 Toronto Film Festival and is now being released through the distribution studio Altered Innocence. Combining the DC Comic parodies with psychedelically abstract imagery, The People's Joker sets out to envelope Vera Drew's life story, while relating to the Joker's twisted tale.

Growing up in quiet Smallville, a young child begins struggling with the discovery of their identity, against the basic ideals of their small-town parents. Journeying out to Gotham, Joker The Harlequin (Vera Drew) aspires to an outlawed life of comedy. Opening her own unground nightclub alongside the Penguin (Nathan Faustyn), she quickly makes a name for herself in the authoritarian-ruled city. Battling the Batman, her boyfriend, and her parents' disapproval, Joker The Harlequin must accept her true self to overcome the obstacles facing herself and her city.

Crafting a heartfelt true story out of the mad world of the Joker, Vera Drew carefully connects the dots between the Clown Prince of Crime and her personal experiences. Having previously worked with comedic genius duo Tim Heidecker (featured in this film) & Eric Wareheim, Drew is no stranger to the chaotic world of modern humor. Though the comedy doesn't always land, the underlying emotional message is prevalent throughout. Drew's trans-coming-of-age story, while unique, remains relatable in her struggle for identity and self-acceptance, an appeal of Joker (2019) as well. The two stories seamlessly combine and create an eccentric journey that comes together in an unconventional, but must-see manner.

Akin to an early day's YouTube video, the randomness of the wacky visuals forms a story that feels true to the Joker. Constantly switching from live-action to animation, and even mixing both, the film consistently grabs the audience's attention and makes it nearly impossible to be bored. Layered with DC Comic references and settings, the film is a constant easter egg hunt for fans. Not held back by the low budget, Drew incorporates puppetry, musical numbers, meta-humor, and plenty of tongue-in-cheek green screen to piece together a wildly entertaining experience. Although it isn't perfect, the movie's flaws accentuate the imperfect world of Joker the Harlequin.

As a lifelong fan of DC Comics and a self-proclaimed aficionado on the subject, The People's Joker was clearly written by people with the same passion for comics. Writers Vera Drew and Bri LeRose repetitively impressed me with their deep-cut references to DC heroes, villains, and fan theories (albeit all in parody). While they aren't represented in their traditional fashion, each iconic character is utilized in a way that feels honest to their source and dynamically plays with the abstract world that inspired this.

At its heart, The People's Joker conveys an emotional coming-of-age story that echoes relatability for any walk of life. Though the story had familiar elements, Vera Drew truly connects to her audience and shines a beacon on the, often unseen, trans experience. Completely non-conventual, outlandishly unique, and conceptually absurd, The People's Joker is a must-see for fans of film, DC Comics, and generally unique stories. I hope that somewhere in the DC Comics Multiverse, Joker the Harlequin is there to put a smile on all our faces.

Queerness in the form of an acid trip into a frying pan of artistic and exaggerated DC parody isn't something I thought of fathoming. Yet, here we are. Congratulations to Vera Drew and her commitment (and everyone else involved) to making this movie. For what it's worth, The People's Joker is one of the jolliest experiences in a long time. Approaching imposter syndrome hasn't never been this hilarious. It's an entertaining ride. It has so much preposterous stuff that made me laugh. Also, there are moments here that made me cry. Intentional or not, the film is riding on this buoyant low-budget look to its advantage. I wasn't too sure at first because it looks like a 2000s music video. After 20-30 minutes, it clicked. It made the film more tolerable to get through and made me respect it a lot. Also, while I did laugh a lot, some of the jokes didn't land. But, hey, comedy is subjective. I know there are going to be people who aren't going to like this for that reason (or many other reasons). However, this is pretty solid, IMO. If Vera Drew reads this (probably won't because she doesn't know me), just know that I'll be watching her next project.

Using Batman characters and various other Gotham City-related namedrops (within the realm of Fair Use, of course; this is decidedly not an official DC release) to tell the story of a trans awakening and trans visibility, Vera Drew's The People's Joker is a mostly funny movie that also somehow works whenever it is unfunny.

Reviewers are not unjustified to use the term "Adult Swim coded". This rings true of the cast (Tim Heidecker and David Liebe Hart appear; even Drew herself has edited a number of Adult Swim shows), the sometimes deliberately awkward acting, and the general quality of the effects, with CGI shots that look like something you would see in the days of M. Dot Strange and Jimmy ScreamerClauz. But the artist that this film truly lauds is Joel Schumacher; the film is dedicated to his memory (alongside Drew's mother) and sometimes recalls his mostly reviled Batman films -- the ones that the Internet tastemakers of the late 2000s called some of the worst pictures ever made.

Video essayist Kyle Kallgren argued that most of the stuff that the Internet has categorized as "cringe" can be reduced to queer expression; a way to bully queerness for simply expressing itself in ways that many aren't used to. The People's Joker, in Kallgren's words, has "defeated cringe". In doing so, I guess, it also suggests that any problems Gen X/Gen Y nerds may have had with Batman & Robin is really a matter of not understanding a queer way of making art. (Recall that the film was released in the same era when the mere mention of trans people was typically a lead-in to a vomit joke.) Well, they understood that the shots of Clooney's leather-clad keister may have been put in because that's the sort of image Schumacher enjoys, but calling Batman & Robin "gay" as an insult isn't to understand why it looks, sounds, and feels the way it does.

What I'll tell you for certain is that The People's Joker is a highly entertaining ride with plenty of personality and wit. A mutual on Twitter argued that its color schemes, occasional "old television" aesthetics, and trans themes make it fit for a double bill with I Saw the TV Glow, but I'm not sure if the tonal shifts of such a movie night would work for everyone. You do you.