The People’s Joker (now streaming on Mubi) is the most fascinating underground film phenomenon of the last few years. Writer/director/star Vera Drew originally conceived the film as a re-edit of 2019’s Joker, before the idea morphed into a more personal story about her gender dysmorphia, with parodic/satiric use of Joker, Batman, Robin and other DC characters. The result is a crazy-quilt near-zero-budget movie featuring crowdsourced visuals from 100-plus artists, with Drew playing a version of the Joker. The film’s 2022 Toronto International Film Festival debut was nearly capsized by a sort-of legal threat from Warner Bros., prompting Drew to cancel all but one of its screenings; eventually, she ironed out the legality issues, and the film traveled the country, screening in arthouses before landing on Mubi and on-demand platforms. And now, among the film’s many oddly humorous elements are credits and title cards reminding us that the film is absolutely 100 percent legal under fair-use laws. Take THAT, corporate legal departments!
The Gist: Big laugh on this title card: “For Mom and Joel Schumacher.” But that’s as pointed as the satire gets. In fact, many people appreciate and/or admire Schumacher’s Batman movies, ridiculous as they are, and I’m pretty sure Drew is one of them. Anyway, our protagonist grew up a boy (Griffin Kramer) in Smallville, Kansas, and we never learn his name, as it’s bleeped out. He never felt – well, I think “secure” is the right word here. “Mama, was I born in the wrong body?” he asks his mother (Lynn Downey), who quickly shepherds him to Arkham Asylum to see a doctor who prescribes Smylex, an antidepressant that’s about a shade shy of Stimpy’s Happy Happy Joy Joy helmet. It’s OBVIOUS this boy just needed to smile more, and all his problems would go away!
Now, about this reality. You won’t be shocked to learn that it’s dystopian, possibly because the real reality that the real Vera Drew lives in is dystopian, especially from her perspective. The fictional world’s ruler is an iron-fist despot named Batman, who lives in the metropolitan hub of Gotham City. Our protagonist moves to Gotham hoping to be a comedian on UCB Live, a state-sponsored comedy show run by the United Clown Bureau. Disgruntled and priced out of the schooling necessary to be hired, he and a pal named Oswald Cobblepot (Nathan Faustyn) decide to open their own comedy club, which is against the law, so they call it an anti-comedy club to avoid trouble – which feels clever and slippery and a lot like someone citing fair-use laws to avoid getting the bejeezus pants sued off them.
And so our hero is inspired to don clown paint and long stringy green hair to take on the persona of Joker the Harlequin, who gasses up on Smylex and takes the stage to cackle through some terrible standup. One of the other comics is Jason Todd (Kane Distler), who has a remarkably similar act, but one that resembles Jared Leto in Suicide Squad. Jason transitioned to being a man, inspiring Joker the Harlequin to share that she always felt like a female trapped in a male body. They fall in love, but it ain’t great – Jason is toxic and carrying mountains of baggage from when he was Batman’s protege-slash-adoptee-slash-lover. No excuses, but, you know, poor guy. Batman emerges in the plot, as does Joker the Harlequin’s mother. And then J the H decides to hack the airwaves and disrupt UCB Live, hoping to get showrunner Lorne Michaels (animated, voiced by Maria Bamford) to let them host the show. Will it work? Will it accomplish anything? NO SPOILERS.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: I Saw the TV Glow pulses with a similar subtext of disaffection – and takes place in a similarly strange, disjointed reality reflecting deep fandom of a pop-cultural entity.
Performance Worth Watching: Drew is all over this thing, in front of and behind the camera. You can’t help but admire her commitment to creating something fresh, new and far beyond the norm.
Memorable Dialogue: Joker the Harlequin narrates this withering zinger: “When you’re in love, even the most self-righteous pop-Marxist rants sound like poetry.”
Sex and Skin: Nah.
Our Take: The People’s Joker is weird and tedious and fascinating and crude and layered and rapid-fire, and absolutely its own thing. Sometimes it’s off-putting, sometimes it’s mesmerizing, but it’s consistently compelling, a lumpy-potatoes blend of heartfelt sincerity and raw, uncut irreverence, although it shows no disdain for the comic book properties it’s spoofing – in fact, it shows affection for the characters, even a touch of reverence for things like Frank Miller’s groundbreaking The Dark Knight Returns graphic novel and the iconography of Todd Phillips’ Joker.
From the outset, it’s obvious Drew has more on her mind than spoofing superheroes. She calls the film a coming-of-age story, and finds parallels in her experiences with gender dysphoria with stories of transformation that comic book heroes and villains undergo. It’s more critical of the business of comedy, with its gatekeeping and culture-war battles (Woody Allen and Louis CK are among the names who catch strays), further reflecting Drew’s professional experiences as an editor and director of TV and internet series.
Where The People’s Joker finds distinction is in its squashed-flat tone and bizarre visual aesthetic. You won’t laugh out loud as often as you’ll arch an eyebrow at its rampant peculiarity and occasionally, admirably off-putting creepiness. Drew patches together green screen footage and crude animations to form a mosaic collage that shows no interest in conventional approaches to form, possibly out of necessity, be it financial or practical. She finds a way to use those limitations to her advantage, and the result is a visually imaginative piece of outsider cult art with a deeply sincere heart.
Our Call: The People’s Joker is a weird one to sit through, but it’ll grow on you like a fungus. STREAM IT.
John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.