The People's Joker!

Last night I had the pleasure of introducing, watching, and then moderating a Q and A for the long-awaited 'The People's Joker" at the NuArt Theater here in Los Angeles.

I wasn't sure what to expect, in fact, I was steeling myself for not liking it. I knew a lot about it and was even IN it, as the voice of a but you know how I feel about comic book culture but I had read Richard Brody's glowing New Yorker review and was hopeful.

It started out a little rough, as the early scenes were SO green screen, I worried the movie would just be THAT. But pretty soon, it picked up and the vacillating styles became so inventive and creative, yet consistent enough to make everything feel cohesive.   And soon enough, I was drawn in (also literally, as my cartoon Alex Jones-style character popped in through the movie) because it was clear this movie was really special: First, it was about something! It was ABOUT a lot of things; Identity, finding a community, and your relationship with your family.

It was a love letter to the myths and archetypes created by the folks at DC and despite what the law says about who owns Batman and all of his friends and foes, those characters are ours - They are about as American as country and jazz music.

It's about comedy, and what it means to be funny and why we want to be funny. A sharp critique of the strict guardrails and gatekeepers of mainstream comedy

But most of all, Vera stole the show as the Joker. She created a comic, sympathetic new kind of leading lady. Witty, vulnerable, and wild with laugh-out-loud delivery and physicality. The thought occurred to me, halfway through that it felt a little like "Annie Hall!" Despite what we all think of Woody now, "Annie Hall" was so revolutionary and bold in its inventive storytelling and getting to the core of the heavy emotional subjects of love, loss, and anxiety, all while keeping things light and funny.

Nathan Faustyn as the Penguin (or Vera's Tony Roberts) was terrific and the two of them had some of the most natural and funny back-and-forths I've seen in a while. Lynne Downey as Vera's mom was so good - natural, funny and heartbreaking throughout... Our own David Liebe Hart was transcendent as Ra's al Ghul (no small task for Vera to make that work, believe me, I know) and... stand by and stand back for this... Phil Braun was an inspired and very funny choice for Batman himself! He made me laugh every time he showed up.

Afterward, Vera and I had a very funny and lovely q and a, which started out very emotionally as I heaped praise on her and how proud I was to see this thing come to fruition. As you may know, it was a long, 3-year labor of crowd-funded love, with so much of the special effects and post-production coming together through the vast network of talented artists out there (maybe some of you!) So many Tim and Eric and Office Hours-friendly names popped up in the end credits.

I've written this whole movie without typing "trans" once, so I'll just say that as a straight white CIS male dude guy it was so valuable to be able to have this glimpse into what it FEELS like to be trans - to have a filmgoing experience in which, I was able to experience their journey with them. It made me prouder than ever to be a staunch supporter of the community and I'm so happy they have THIS movie as their own. I also want more movies from Vera - I want her to have a bigger budget and a small studio's support to make her version of "Stardust Memories" or whatever the hell she wants to do.

I hope you get a chance to see this movie, check your local listings - It's a true original and you're bound to see some folks, maybe in costume who finally get to see themselves represented for who they are up on the big old silver screen. It's a wonderful thing to see.

P&L, T