Let us be clear: we have nothing against beards. But Joaquin Phoenix’s new overweight chin-animal has come attached to a whole new distasteful persona that includes giving painfully bad interviews, attacking fans at his hip-hop concerts, and performing in hip-hop concerts.
Over the course of the last year, the once award-winning actor has been ratcheting up a growing repertoire of bad behavior that began with his public declaration two years ago that he was quitting acting and pursuing a career as a hip-hop artist. The behavior could either indicate a very real and tragic spiral into depression and drug use … or it could all be an elaborate hoax.
Either way, it’s annoying.
“I’m Still Here,” the documentary directed by his brother-in-law, Casey Affleck, was released today and covers the intervening time between his “retirement” and the doc’s premiere. (If you follow movies, Phoenix has not retired, slated as he is for a number of future roles.) “I’m Still here” has not only been ruthlessly panned by critics, its subject matter is difficult to watch: coke-driven frenzies, fluids from orifices, strippers… it’s like Borat without the humor.