The People’s Joker
When she was a little boy (Griffin Kramer) in Smallville, Kansas, Joker the Harlequin (Vera Drew) asked her mother (Lynn Downey) 'Was I born in the wrong body?' The horrified woman immediately brought her son to Arkham Asylum to see Dr. Jonathan Crane (Christian Calloway) who prescribed Smylex, a gas that slaps on a happy face. Years later she would leave home for Gotham City, where her experience auditioning for the state-sanctioned comedy skit show on UCB Live that she grew up watching inspired her to form an anti-comedy club as “The People’s Joker.”
Laura's Review: B
Cowriter (with Bri LeRose)/director/editor/star Vera Drew’s feature debut became a cause célèbre when she pulled it after one showing at the 2022 Toronto Film Festival after receiving a letter from ‘a media conglomerate’ pressuring the filmmaker not to screen it, likely because of her irreverent parody of not only Warner Brothers’ IP, but SNL’s Lorne Michaels (voice of Maria Bamford), recreated here in CGI as the producer of the thinly veiled UCB Live. Drew’s idea of using a Batman villain for a coming of age as a trans woman movie is not only applicable, but turns it on its ear with a surprising third act revelation. The television editor’s feature debut is also a fast-paced, visually inventive marvel combining live action with computer imagery and animation.
The Superhero genre has long been associated with society’s oppressed and we can see the allegories here beginning with Drew’s use of Smylex to suggest conversion therapy. When Joker the Harlequin’s UCB comedy audition turns out to be a brain scan (‘malleable’), liver diagnosis (‘damaged’) and penis measurement (‘desperate 5 inches’), she’s accepted into the cast as a man, women relegated as harlequin backup dancers. Disillusioned with her hero, Ra’s al Ghul (David Liebe Hart), our Joker heads to a fish bar with Oswald Cobblepot, aka The Penguin (Nathan Faustyn), where they bond over his tasteless Treblinka joke and decide to open their anti-comedy Red Hood Fun House. This draws such like-minded nonconformists as The Riddler (Trevor Drinkwater), Mr. Freeze (voice of Scott Aukerman), Poison Ivy (voice of Ruin Carroll) and Mr. J. (Kane Distler). (Listen, too, for Tim Heidecker as the voice of Daily Planet editor Perry White while Bob Odenkirk plays Bob the Goon.)
The Joker Harlequin will fall hard for Mr. J and when he tells her he is trans, their bond becomes even tighter, Mr. J convincing Joker the Harlequin to jump into a vat of estrogen to complete her transition. The romance will turn out to be a double-edged sword, however, Mr. J., once Carrie Kelley before Batman (voice of Phil Braun) groomed him into becoming his Robin, turning out to be an abusive gaslighter. But with Batman outed as a pedophilic villain, Joker the Harlequin is able to convince Michaels to let her host and give Batman his comeuppance on UCB Live.
“The People’s Joker’s” jokes and allusions fly by so quickly, it’s the type of movie that should continue to reward with repeat viewings (how did Drew stuff in a Ru Paul fracking joke back in 2022?). While comics are described as ‘shitty, rotten people’ admiring references to Louis C.K. and Bill Cosby warrant ‘before the unpleasantness, of course.’ Repeat viewings hold true for the visuals as well which, while not the slickest, still impress with their mixed media approach. Young Joker will be driving along in a car with his mom when all of a sudden we’re given a bird’s eye view as she pulls an animated U-Turn in a cornfield. Smylex applications turn into psychedelic overlay shots and some characters, like Poison Ivy, seem like an updated take on Max Headroom. Makeup ranges from purposefully smeared (Mr. J) to artfully applied (Joker the Harlequin, The Penguin’s nose).
“The People’s Joker’s” relentless assault begins to wear a bit in its last act, but Vera Drew’s feature debut is a surefire restorative for Superhero fatigue. All hail irreverent originality.
Robin's Review: C+
Altered Innocence releases “The People’s Joker” in NY on 4/5/24, expanding in subsequent weeks. Click here for theaters and play dates.
