The People's Joker (2024)

By: Mike Ward on Friday, April 26

NR Running Time: 92 mins

SHOULD I SEE IT?

YES

  • An underground film with a massive heart of gold, The People’s Joker is brave, bold, a little dangerous and one of the more fascinating movies in recent memory.

  • Vera Drew, an Emmy-nominated editor, wears nearly every hat in bringing this deeply personal “anti-comedy” to the big screen.

  • Inventive, clever, boundless and fearless, The People’s Joker throws a lot at its audience, but also tells an illuminating story of self-discovery in a moving and powerful way.

NO

  • Objectively, the movie can be a lot to take in if you are not ready for all the different techniques the film throws at you.

  • The outlandish, over-the-top presentation has caused some people to dismiss the film as self-indulgent.

  • Is one of the finest examples of a movie that embraces and mocks the superhero genre, while also helping remove stigmas around what it means to be transgender. If you believe anything just mentioned exists as a reason to not watch The People’s Joker, I am deeply sorry for you and please open your eyes to a bigger world and be better.


OUR REVIEW

The People’s Joker is a movie about survival and resilience. Perseverance and resolve. Authenticity and identity. The debut feature by writer/director Vera Drew is a unicorn, as folks say, a movie unlike anything you have ever seen.

After premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in 2022, surviving a cease-and-desist order from Warner Bros. Discovery for its use of Batman-related characters and likenesses, Drew has been persistent in getting her movie seen. At one point, there was a belief the movie would just be a buzzy thing people discussed but few actually saw. Drew would not let the film go away and pushed hard for her directorial debut to sneak into movie festivals as “Secret Screenings.” Because the movie is earnestly created, thoroughly entertaining and a little bit bonkers, word-of-mouth spread and the buzz started to grow. Exhibitors who booked The People’s Joker could instantly see how the film connected and resonated with audiences. 

What emerges through Drew’s comedic, clever, and inventive storytelling approach is a film that proves to be deeply personal. The People’s Joker is a film about Drew’s gender transition, but it also celebrates everyone on a path of discovering themselves, while also capturing emotions and experiences for transgender individuals in ways few stories have been able to articulate so effectively on screen.

Let me click pause here for a moment.

I am not a member of the transgender community. My son is. And so are dear, close friends of mine. For my son, he is becoming at peace with who he is. My wife, myself, our daughter, and those close to my son, are so fortunate to be there to guide and support his journey day-by-day and moment by moment. We are grateful to walk with him and learn from him every day. When I speak of The People’s Joker articulating the transgender experience in such an impactful way, I am speaking from a place of gratitude. Once the film concluded, I felt I learned more about my son and our friends in a way I likely never could.

Resuming this review, let me be clear: The People’s Joker is a rollicking, go-for-broke, breakneck paced superhero parody. While not every joke lands, most do, and Drew, appearing here as co-writer, director, editor, and lead actor, portrays Joker the Harlequin (inspired by The Joker and Harley Quinn). Initially going by the pronouns “he” and “ha,” Joker has arrived in Gotham, but this time Batman (voiced by Phil Braun) ruthlessly oversees a dystopian city and Joker’s story takes on a more empathetic tone.

Drew has indicated that she adopted the role of Joker because the world consistently attempts to villainize trans identity. Here, all Drew’s character wants to do is find success on stage, hoping to join the ensemble of UCB Live, a show very similar to “Saturday Night Live.” The movie is much more than that. Joker’s journey to Gotham is told via flashback, which for all the greenscreen usage, stitched together set design, animation and mixed media, is where the film finds its proudly beating heart.

As a child (played by Griffin Kramer), Joker (their birth name, or dead name, is bleeped whenever spoken out loud), recognizes things feel different. In an effort to come out to their mother (Lynn Downey), she panics and has her child see a shifty doctor at the Arkane Asylum who prescribes Smylex. The drug, which instantly and fleetingly makes people feel happy and smile, may eventually serve as this movie’s explanation for how the Joker developed the iconic smile. Smylex also quite easily masks and suppresses the thoughts, feelings and emotions a person feels inside. 

Drew’s film is a wild ride. You never know what is coming next. Yet, for the rough, underground, slapped-together look and feel of the film, partially crowdsourced by a growing legion of fans, Drew knows exactly what she’s doing. 

An Emmy-nominated editor who has previously worked with the likes of Sacha Baron Cohen, Tim Robinson and Tim Heidecker (who makes an appearance in the film), The People’s Joker makes its kinetic jumps from animation to greenscreen to conventional live action with the precision of the big budget counterparts it is skewering.

I could share a lot more about The People’s Joker. Familiar characters like Bane, The Riddler and The Penguin appear. There are cameos from Bob Odenkirk and Robert Wuhl. Joker learns comedy from Ra’s al Ghul (David Liebe Hart), a Batman foe of recent memory. We even have a second Joker character of sorts, Mr. J, portrayed by Kane Distler and stylized after Jared Leto’s take on the Joker character in Suicide Squad. 

There’s a reason The People’s Joker is selling out shows and extending runs everywhere it plays. Distributor Altered Innocence have not released box office numbers for the film, but in Seattle, my home market, the movie has a palpable buzz about it. People keep talking about it and folks want to see what this little movie is all about.

For all the genderfluid, non-binary, trans and queer representation on screen, the film speaks to finding a community - a safe space - within a world that at any moment can want you silenced and cease to exist. That’s reality in the transgender community. 

Drew’s film has defied the odds, staring down a cease-and-desist order from Warner Bros. Discovery, while surviving an almost 18-month journey from TIFF to festivals to movie theaters across the country.

For my son. For our friends. And for a community attacked and demonized simply for trying to live peacefully among others, The People’s Joker is an unmitigated success. This can be a film for all of us. Give it a chance. Listen to what it has to say. You will come out better for doing so.

CAST & CREW

Starring: Vera Drew, Lynn Downey, Griffin Kramer, Kane Distler, Nathan Faustyn, David Liebe Hart, Maria Bamford, Phil Braun, Christian Calloway, Scott Aukerman, Trevor Drinkwater, Tim Heidecker, Bob Odenkirk, Robert Wuhl

Director: Vera Drew
Written by: Vera Drew, Bri LeRose
Release Date: April 5, 2024
Altered Innocence