X
In Theaters Now
  • 2024
  • Not Rated
  • Altered Innocence
  • 1 h 32 m
  • 2024
  • Not Rated
  • Altered Innocence
  • 1 h 32 m

Summary A painfully unfunny aspiring clown (Vera Drew as Joker the Harlequin) grapples with her gender identity while unsuccessfully attempting to join the ranks of Gotham City’s sole comedy program in a world where comedy has been outlawed. Uniting with a ragtag team of rejects and misfits, Joker the Harlequin forms an illegal anti-comedy troup...

Directed By: Vera Drew

Written By: Vera Drew, Bri LeRose

In Theaters Now
  • 2024
  • Not Rated
  • Altered Innocence
  • 1 h 32 m
  • 2024
  • Not Rated
  • Altered Innocence
  • 1 h 32 m

The People's Joker

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 22 Critic Reviews
78
User Score Mixed or Average Based on 42 User Ratings
4.0
My Score
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Where to Watch

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Summary A painfully unfunny aspiring clown (Vera Drew as Joker the Harlequin) grapples with her gender identity while unsuccessfully attempting to join the ranks of Gotham City’s sole comedy program in a world where comedy has been outlawed. Uniting with a ragtag team of rejects and misfits, Joker the Harlequin forms an illegal anti-comedy troup...

Directed By: Vera Drew

Written By: Vera Drew, Bri LeRose

Where to Watch

View Showtimes

Top Cast

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View All Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 22 Critic Reviews
78
91% Positive
20 Reviews
9% Mixed
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 22 Critic Reviews
78
91% Positive
20 Reviews
9% Mixed
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
100
May 1, 2024
The People’s Joker feels less like the work of someone who wants to watch the Batman burn and more like a refashioning of a modern myth for personal purposes. It’s the ultimate kill-the-author gesture, one that ironically gives birth to another author. No, even better: a community of authors, working together to create something wholly new and true.
By Josh Larsen FULL REVIEW
88
Apr 5, 2024
It’s a film about outsiders, made by outsiders, that feels like outsider art, which is maybe the most exciting thing about it.
By Clint Worthington FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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User Score
Mixed or Average Based on 42 User Ratings
4.0
31% Positive
13 Ratings
14% Mixed
6 Ratings
55% Negative
23 Ratings

User Reviews

 View All
User Score
Mixed or Average Based on 42 User Ratings
4.0
31% Positive
13 Ratings
14% Mixed
6 Ratings
55% Negative
23 Ratings

There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.

83
Apr 2, 2024
The freewheeling nature with which she veers between heightened, comic-adjacent antics and looser improv-stylings that are grounded exclusively within the audience’s frame of reference shouldn’t work, yet it’s the source of much of the film’s charm. Drew doesn’t aim to disguise the low-budget nature of the production, and rather than hope viewers suspend disbelief, she asks you to indulge in how she plays around with the genre’s artificiality.
By Alistair Ryder FULL REVIEW
80
Apr 12, 2024
It's hilarious, heartbreaking, distinctive, significant, and just what Hollywood needs after countless DC and Marvel projects.
FULL REVIEW
79
Apr 3, 2024
It’s a funky, janky, raw piece of autobiography, masquerading as the only thing the film industry makes anymore: A superhero movie. The riotous and weaponized result is everything the corporate use of the Joker isn’t, and everything it could be.
By Jacob Oller FULL REVIEW
75
Apr 2, 2024
Throughout The People’s Joker, Drew lampoons comedy institutions as freely as she does superhero hegemony, in effect mounting an impassioned argument for the vitality of art made at the margins regardless of classification.
FULL REVIEW
40
Apr 18, 2024
Its abstract foundation is incredibly fertile creative ground, but 'The People's Joker's nuclear, self-indulgent execution is the downfall to its buzzworthy rise.
FULL REVIEW
See All 22 Critic Reviews

Details

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Production Company Open Road Films (II)
Release Date Apr 5, 2024
Duration 1 h 32 m
Rating Not Rated
Genres
Tagline Come see how she got these (emotional) scars.
View All Details

Awards

L.A. Outfest
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Chicago International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination

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