"The People’s Joker is a fearless, gloriously funny, and moving act of cinematic anarchy."
— Alejandra Martinez, Austin Chronicle
"It’s probably not the trans origin story that DC Comics wanted, but it’s nonetheless one that many others will likely need."
— Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
"As attention-grabbing calling-card projects go, this one more than demonstrates Drew’s ingenuity and organizing power."
— Peter Debruge, Variety
"The People's Joker will likely become a gateway for queers, of any age, inspired to right wrongs in a truly gay way. As is our right."
— Kelly McClure, Salon.com
"Unlike any queer film or experimental film I've ever seen. Funny and personal and experimental -- hard to describe, and that's a good thing."
— Alonso Duralde, Breakfast All Day
"A trans coming-of-age tale, a probing meditation on abusive relationships and a visually inventive reminder of the queer art of camp appropriation."
— Manuel Betancourt, Los Angeles Times
"Like no superhero movie before it, the subversive coming-of-age story reinvents the villain's origins with a mélange of visual styles and a barrage of gags."
— Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times
"Shot over five days, this very indie movie stars writer-director Vera Drew as Joker the Harlequin and borrows liberally from the Batman universe to tell a story of personal discovery."
— Dylan Roth, Observer
"It can be hard to fully put yourself in somebody else's world, but here Vera is letting you into hers by putting her own spin of characters we're already familiar with... It's something special."
— Perri Nemiroff, Perri Nemiroff (YouTube)
"'The People’s Joker,' directed by Vera Drew, is the best superhero movie I’ve ever seen—because, unlike studio-produced films in the genre, it responds to the filmmaker’s deep personal concerns."
— Richard Brody, New Yorker
"It’s filtering Vera Drew’s autobiographical story through the lens of contemporary popular culture, transforming her own life into myth while transforming corporatized IP into punk rock anarchy."
— William Bibbiani, TheWrap
"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."
— Brad Hanford, Slant Magazine
"It makes sense that Vera, a passionate fan of the Bat-verse, would use the Joker’s character and lore to tell the story of her own transformation from a failed improv comedian into a gloriously unhinged trans agent of comedic chaos."
— Katie Rife, Polygon
"[The] protagonist’s honesty is refreshingly euphoric, and this allows the laughs her cartoonish antics generate to make a lasting impression that many viewers — Gay, straight, Lesbian, Bi, Trans, whatever — are going to treasure forever."
— Sara Michelle Fetters, MovieFreak.com
"The People’s Joker is a self-conscious, intentional cult film, crafted with genuine love for everything in the margins. And it tells a story everyone can relate to, about a kid growing up and trying to find happiness and success in a dark, troubled world."
— Jourdain Searles, Hollywood Reporter
