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Jokers, Ranked
Which clown prince of crime is the top card in the deck?
I’m still ranking the performance high, though, because he really is doing a lot of acting, and if Phoenix’s goals were to be creepy and weird and pitiable, he succeeded, even if it seemed less like a portrait of a uniquely fucked up man and more like how I imagine literally any random male stand-up comic actually is in their downtime. Drew draws inspiration from DC comics, ’90s Batman movies, and even Joker and Suicide Squad, remixing their characters and signifiers into a trippy Gotham City full of gatekeepers, hacks, and a naked CGI Lorne Michaels. It’s all hilarious, odd, and controversial on many levels ( TPJ ’s Batman is a groomer), but it’s also surprisingly moving, owing to Drew’s honest performance that combines a sardonic sense of humor with a vulnerability and openness that feels very real for such a surreal product.
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