Joker owes a great debt to Taxi Driver (1976) and The King of Comedy (1982), both starring Robert De Niro (who also stars here.)
Arthur (an admittedly brilliant, Oscar winning, Joaquin Phoenix) is sacked from a job he likes. He is literally beaten up by society. He lives with his mother and fantasizes about being with his attractive neighbour. Arthur has a terrible affliction that causes him to laugh out loud. He wants to be a comedian but he can't tell funny jokes.
Joker is bleak, misery porn and full of obvious cliches. Cliched characters too. It says if a middle-aged man lives at home with his mum, he is depressed and will become violent.
Arthur could choose to be happy in spite of his hardships but he's entitled. He thinks he should be something more (something the social media generation can relate to.) Director Philips (The Hangover, 2009) isn't interested in happiness, he prefers the film to wallow in bleakness. Because, well, Joker is a comic book villain.
The message being that if we treat someone bad they will revolt. No shit! It's not much of a message. It's not much of a film.
FG FG FG (for Phoenix.)
DIRECTED BY: Todd Phillips. SCREENPLAY BY: Todd Phillips, Scott Silver. RUNNING TIME: 122 minutes. CERTIFICATE: 15 / R. USA.
 and The King of Comedy (1982), both starring Robert De Niro (who also stars here.) Arthur (an...){kind=link}