Maybe The Best Way To Watch ‘Joker’ Is Wait For Streaming?

I don’t know what there is to add to the conversation about Todd Phillips’s Joker—which stars Joaquin Phoenix as the famed Batman villain—because a lot of smart people have said a lot of smart things already. Sarah Marrs articulated the ways in which the film endorses the violence from its lonely and troubled protagonist. Alissa Wilkinson spoke to the film’s vitriolic fan base. Perhaps most significantly, families of the victims of the Aurora shooting—which took place during a 2012 screening of The Dark Knight Rises—signed a letter to Warner Bros. expressing concerns about the film. They did not ask that the studio pull the film, or that moviegoers boycott, but simply that Warner Bros. “end political contributions to candidates who take money from the NRA and vote against gun reform” and to donate to organizations that aid victims of gun violence. The company responded that it had a “long history” of donating to such organizations and that the film was not intended as an endorsement of “real-world violence of any kind.” The Aurora theater where the shooting took place will not be showing the movie.

It’s not an understatement, therefore, to say that Joker is the most controversial film of the year. The drama of a good controversy is understandably alluring. Why else would so many tabloids plaster their covers with wildly inaccurate and yet tantalizingly inflammatory statements like, “MEGHAN AND HARRY LEAVING THE ROYALS FOR THEIR BABY!” (They did not.) Even those who have no interest in the film, controversy or otherwise, are probably at least a little curious by this point. But is that curiosity worth braving police-guarded theaters, arguments with your family, and financially supporting a director who’s being, quite frankly, a bit of a dick about this whole thing? In my opinion, not really. Luckily, in the digital age, there’s a way to both avoid all of the above and secretly satisfy any mild curiosity you may be harboring: Wait for it to come to streaming!

Venom, another comic-adjacent film, was released on this very weekend last year. It was a big box office hit for Sony, grossing over $850 million in theaters worldwide. Even so, it arrived on digital formats on December 11, 2018, just 10 weeks after first hitting your local multiplex. You can expect Joker to follow a similar trajectory and be available to purchase or rent digitally this December; I’d be shocked if Warner Bros. didn’t have it available to buy on Blu-Ray or DVD as a stocking stuffer this holiday season, too. (Because what are studios if not capitalist institutions?)

Theaters are bringing in police to provide armed security at certain screenings.

Despite reports, authorities maintain that there have been “no credible threats” linked to the Joker film. Nonetheless, both Los Angeles and New York City are deploying extra police officers to monitor screenings, just in case. Look, if this decade has proven anything it’s that none of us are safe doing anything, ever, and I hardly want to contribute to fear-mongering. But I can’t help but feel having an armed officer standing on alert a few feet away from my seat would detract from my movie-watching experience. Maybe that’s just me!

If you don’t see the film right away, you can remove yourself from this tiresome narrative.

It’s far too late for me, but you can still save yourselves. You don’t actually have to have a strong opinion on this film, but if you see this film in theaters, your friends and coworkers will expect you to have one. You know what a very easy way out of that conversation is? “I didn’t see it.” So simple! So brilliant! Now all you have to do is change the subject to The Masked Singer, and everyone will leave the interaction feeling much happier than they would have otherwise. Then, eight months down the road, you can watch Joker in the quiet of your own home and form your own opinions about the movie while everyone is busy screaming about the primaries.

Todd Phillips is being a bit of a jerk about this whole thing.

You guys saw that thing where Phillips—who directed the Hangover trilogy before Joker—said the following, right? “Go try to be funny nowadays with this woke culture. There were articles written about why comedies don’t work anymore — I’ll tell you why, because all the fucking funny guys are like, ’Fuck this shit, because I don’t want to offend you,’” he told Vanity Fair. I think most people who aren’t jerks would agree that’s a pretty jerk-like thing to say, and that was only one of the jerk-like things he said on his press tour. If you’re not feeling inclined to financially support jerks at this time, waiting to watch this film on streaming is the way to go.

You can buy yourself a nice takeout meal with the money you save on your ticket price.

Movies are expensive. Do you want to spend $15 to $20 to watch a dreary comic book-based film while surrounded by armed police? Or do you want to spend $15 to $20 to eat spicy tuna and salmon avocado rolls while surrounded by cheap beer and a pumpkin spice candle? I believe I rest my case.

Chicken Run is streaming on Hulu. Just, like, FYI.

Do what you want with your time, but the fact that Chicken Run is currently streaming on Hulu is vital information that everyone should have before deciding whether or not to purchase a ticket to Joker this weekend. To me, the choice is obvious.

Stream Chicken Run on Hulu