The thing people (understandably) remember most about this particular movie is the wild card casting choices. The idea of Beetlejuice playing Bruce Wayne was anything but a slam dunk when it was announced, but Keaton's portrayal has become widely regarded as one of the two best versions of Batman. But with time, some of the other casting decision have proven to hold up a little less. Kim Basinger, though an obvious choice at the time to play the love interest Vicki Vale, had such little personality that they may as well have used a cardboard cutout of her character form Nine 1/2 Weeks in most of her scenes. And as terrific as the scene of Jack Nicholson's Joker dancing on a parade float to a Prince soundtrack is, you have to admit that it might be nice if his character took a breather every once in a while. Nicholson tops his manic energy from The Shining in uncompromising fashion, with gleeful diabolism and depravity. He honestly makes Jim Carrey as The Riddler look like Eeyore by comparison. Then again, when you're carrying a movie on your back for over two hours, it's important to keep the energy levels high. And that's the biggest issue with this version of The Joker: too much screen time. Gotta leave people wanting more, not begging the lead villain to take a long bathroom break.
