My Thoughts (some spoilers)

First of all, thanks HBO Max. I watched this for free instead of in the theaters. Now, some random thoughts…

1) It is so totally a musical, in spite of what Lady Gaga says. But, vastly inferior to All That Jazz, which is the closest analogy I can think of. I happen to like musicals but if you don’t, stay away!

2) Totally a courtroom drama. Sorry, but I can watch Law and Order SVU anytime on TV. Or, To Kill a Mockingbird, which is my favorite “courtroom” movie.

3) It’s a prequel / setup to the true future Joker, who for all we know could have been Harley’s kid. But we’ll never find out now.

4) The two leads are actually quite good. In fact, I don’t think there’s a bad performance anywhere in the film, but sadly, the story is not what target audiences wanted.

5) The film could have worked as a separate character study of one down-on-his-luck man’s descent into despair, but to pigeon-hole the story into a Joker character puts unrealistic expectations on it and essetnially derails the film.

6) Kinda ruined The Bandwagon for me (that’s the Astaire film we see in the screening).

7) For a good, very underrated musical about a delusional man, see Man of La Mancha. Peter O’Toole gives an incredible performance and Sophia Loren is….zounds!