Meant to post this, kept forgetting....
I thought Joker was one of the best made movies I've seen in many years. That's not to say it was one of my favorites, but rather, I still can attests to it being very well done, extremely well acted, and quite a refreshing change from the ' amusement park ' huge budget movies we've been fed now for the past 10+ years.
I read this on another forum, by some poster, not a film critic. It summed up my views nicely, and I think captures the feel of the movie.
If Joker were a painting, it would be a Picasso during his Cubist period. Distorted but familiar. Sad but you can’t look away; much like a car accident - we just have to see: did anyone get hurt. This is how Joker lives, on the ugly side of life. But it’s fascinating. It is so well written, not a wasted word or a wasted scene. And, above all, NO preachy dialogue