Joker: Folie a Deux (2024) Warner Bros./Action-Thriller-Musical RT: 138 minutes Rated R (some strong violence, language throughout, some sexuality, brief full nudity) Director: Todd Phillips Screenplay: Scott Silver and Todd Phillips Music: Hildur Gudnadottir Cinematography: Lawrence Sher Release date: October 4, 2024 (US) Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Zazie Beetz, Steve Coogan, Harry Lawtey, Jacob Lofland, Ken Leung, Bill Smitrovich, Leigh Gill, Sharon Washington.
Rating: * ½
The first Joker, one of the best films of the 2010s, grossed over $1 billion worldwide, $335.5M in North America alone. There’s no way the sequel Joker: Folie a Deux will come anywhere close to those numbers once word of mouth gets out. In simple terms, it’s lame.
Todd Phillips returns as director and co-writer of Joker: Folie a Deux, a follow-up to the outstanding 2019 original that’s inferior in every conceivable way. It can be likened to a patient in a psych ward rendered catatonic by strong doses of Thorazine. The first movie pulsated with manic energy, most of it courtesy of Joaquin Phoenix who won an Oscar for his turn as the title character. He took the role and owned it by depicting Joker as an extremely violent individual with mental illness rather than a comic book supervillain. He had complete control even in his most out of control moments no matter how OTT. This time, he’s too subdued. He’s like the aforementioned patient on Thorazine.
The story picks up about two years after the events of the first movie. Arthur Fleck is in custody at Arkham Asylum awaiting trial for the five murders he committed. His attorney (Keener, Get Out) plans to plead him not guilty by reason of insanity. Fleck doesn’t seem to care one way or the other. He’s what you might call medically emasculated.
One day, things change for Arthur. He develops a sudden case of love at first sight when he spots a female patient (Gaga, A Star Is Born) in the music therapy room. A very disturbed woman, she and Arthur make an instant connection.
We all know love does funny things to people. In many cases, they’re taken to flights of fancy. I guess that would go double for those who are already delusional. By now, everybody has heard that Joker: Folie a Deux is a musical. It is, but not in the sense that the entire cast breaks into song and dance. Rather, the musical numbers are presented as private fantasies that Joker and Harley slip into when reality gets to be too much. None of them are original songs; all of them are pre-existing pop tunes by Stevie Wonder (“For Once in My Life”), Burt Bacharach (“What the World Needs Now Is Love”), The Carpenters (“Close To You”) and The Bee Gees (“To Love Somebody”).
Sadly, this is one of the most disappointing aspects of Joker: Folie a Deux, a movie of many missed opportunities. Phillips had a chance to go totally bat-s*** crazy by setting the insanity to musical numbers. Instead, he doesn’t lean into it at all. None of the numbers stand out; they’re all underwhelming. It’s been less than 24 hours since I saw the movie and I couldn’t tell you a single thing about any of them.
One of things I like best about the first Joker is how Phillips openly references Martin Scorsese, Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy in particular. It has a gritty, realistic feel with a Gotham City that resembles pre-Giuliani NYC. It wears its nihilism like a badge of honor. All of that is gone in Joker: Folie a Deux. It’s flat and boring. Most of it is set inside dull, drab Arkham where the guards easily outnumber the medical staff. I don’t think I saw a single doctor in the place. It may as well be a prison. When the film leaves the asylum, it goes to the courtroom where young DA Harvey Dent (Lawtey, Industry) calls witness after witness against Dent. The characters spend very little time on the streets of Gotham and even less outside the courthouse where Joker’s supporters are going crazy. That’s where the energy is. The movie desperately needs it.
Joker: Folie a Deux marks the second failure in a row for Phoenix. To be fair, the first isn’t entirely his fault. It’s Ridley Scott’s. He’s the one who thought it was a good idea to cast the actor as Napoleon Bonaparte. It was miscasting on a large scale. Joker: Folie a Deux is mostly on Phoenix although Phillips does share the blame for his lazy direction. Joaquin doesn’t isn’t feeling it this time. He doesn’t go full-out Joker. Sure, he does the laugh a few times and the dance at least once, but he dials it down more than he should.
Gaga isn’t terrible as the future Harley Quinn. She’s not that good either. She puts forth a little more effort than her co-star, but only when she’s on-screen which isn’t too often. I realize she’s not Harley Quinn just yet, but I expected a little more from the Joker’s female counterpart and soulmate. Steve Coogan (The Trip) is wasted as a sensationalistic journalist who interviews Arthur in one scene. The only one who doesn’t disappoint is Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) as the sadistic head guard. He is convincingly repellant.
Occasionally, Joker: Folie a Deux shows signs of life. The opening is a salute to the old Looney Tunes cartoons complete with the old WB logo, the classic intro music and the style of animation. It’s a promising start that yields no dividends. There’s no follow-through. It doesn’t have any great standout scenes like the subway shooting in the first movie. Even the sequence near the end when Joker is on the loose in Gotham is a great big zero.
I wanted to love Joker: Folie a Deux in the worst way. The first one, which I rewatched over the weekend, is awesome in its total subversiveness. It’s a non-superhero movie if that makes sense. The sequel is simply a non-movie. There is so much missed potential. I’d actually like to forget it ever happened. It’s one of the year’s biggest disappointments.
TRIVIA NOTE: The title Folie a Deux translates to “Madness for Two”.
