At times it feels he tries too hard to be humorous like his Batman films and The Lost Boys, he strikes me as somebody who tries to be the funny guy or clown of the group when he isn't, when he tries to be funny it comes off as embarrassing and pretentious.

I just think that Joel Schumacher had the same problem that say, somebody like Richard Lester had when he took on Superman. Schumacher seemed to always be looking for a gag even if it didn't make sense within the context of the situation. Schumacher's Batman movies, especially the second one, suffer from major a identity crisis.

If you were to ask me who should've done it ideally if you wanted younger talent or a film for all Joe Johnston or Sam Raimi or the Animated Series guys Bruce Timm and Paul Dini.
Problem was Schumacher didn't know what to do with Batman or know how to make a kid's film.
I do find him irritating, mostly find him insincere and pompous, he's the type who has to be the smartest or coolest guy in the room when he isn't.

That he did a decent job with both Batman and Robin in
Batman Forever
suggests he didn't completely look down on comics although he probably does on some aspects of them.
The question is who could have made the films better, I think Warner would have pushed most filmmakers to do something like what was actually made, especially after BF got a lot of box office and good audience reaction. Someone who had only done kids' or PG films could have been worse.