'JOKER'........'You laughin' at ME?, You laughin' at ME?"

Joker (2019)    Let's start out by declaring that we don't believe for one minute in this film's commitment to its up-to-the-minute social commentary........

                 It's just show-biz, folks.........

                 And writer-director Todd Phillips (of the "Hangover" trilogy) is clever enough to turn the bottomless rage of the disenfranchised and the tormented, untreated mentally ill into prime popcorn fodder......

                  As they say in TV news.....if it bleeds, it leads.

                   Philips plays this tune like a master pianist.......though he's been lauded for making the film a blatant mash-up of "Taxi Driver" and "The King Of Comedy", the film he's referencing here more than any other is Michael Winner's 1974 groundbreaker, "Death Wish".......with Charles Bronson pushed past his civilized veneer and turning vigilante executioner of New York street punks.

                    'Joker' flips and bends the 'Death Wish' premise in service of what's happening now......envisioning an actual civil war between the frustrated, impoverished 'have-nots' and the ultra wealthy, cocooned one-per-centers...........

                      In the film, mobs of Have-Nots, inspired and energized by the Joker's slaying of three entitled young Wall Street assholes, don their clown masks and rampage through the streets, wielding 'Kill The Rich' signs......

                      It's a typically Hollywood facile conceit......and we have to wonder if Phillips is smart enough to realize that if his imagined Poor-Vs.-Rich revolution ever came about,  those clownfaced hordes would lay bloody siege to the film community's swimmin' pool mansions......

                     But we're not even close to that happening.......cause in reality, the Have-Nots got suckered and conned into electing the very greediest, foul and immoral of the One-Percenters they claim to hate...... making him their Savior President, worshiping him like a deity while he lines his own pockets and massages them with thousands of lies......

                    And in the real world,  the mentally ill Have Nots don't storm the homes of the rich. They storm Wal-Marts, Schools and churches........with AK-47s.  And they don't check people's bank accounts before opening fire....

                     Now there's a movie for ya, Mr. Phillips......

                     Putting aside the movie's slick pandering, there's one thing that cannot be denied.....Joaquin Phoenix's Joker may well be the the greatest, most spectacular film performance
of this young century or any other.  .

                    He's literally lightning in a bottle, crafting an unforgettable piece of work in which he pulls off the feat of breaking your heart while scaring the crap out of you......

                    There's only a handful of actors who've ever accomplished that singular, amazing task........to freeze your blood in one scene, and almost bring you to tears in the next. We're guessing that acting students who haven't even been born yet will study Phoenix's 'Joker' for decades to come.

                   We could go on and on about his work in this film........but let's sum it up by saying the Academy Award for Best Actor belongs to no one but Joaquin Phoenix.....no contest, it's simply his....end of story.

                   So we'll end this post with a 4 star (****) rating for "Joker"........though we're deeply suspicious of this film's true motives, there's no denying it as a showcase for the  most breathtaking piece of acting you'll ever see. Unmissable by any standard..