Five years ago, Warner Brothers and DC struck gold with a bold and ambitious movie centered around one of pop culture’s most infamous villains. The movie Joker (2019) stood out from all the other comic book movies that were released towards the end of the 2010’s. It was grounded, gritty and unforgiving in it’s tone. The filmmaker behind it, Todd Philips was diverting far from his usual comfort zone in comedy and was taking a page from early Scorsese with this origin story centered around Gotham City’s “clown prince of crime.” The Joker has always been a highly coveted role in the past for actors, because it’s a character that is all about extremes, especially when it comes to both humor and horror, and that’s a mix that many actors love to throw themselves into. From Jack Nicholson to Heath Ledger, many great performances have helped to turn the Joker into a cinematic icon, but in the case of the Todd Phillips’ movie, the Joker was not just going to be a foil for the Batman this time; he was going to be the main character. To make the movie work, they needed an actor who could not only pull off the grandiosity of the Joker persona but also someone who could find the human being underneath and make that aspect just as fascinating. Joaquin Phoenix proved to be the ideal choice for the role, as he slipped into the clown shoes of this iconic villain and crafted an unforgettable performance that was both chilling and unhinged but also felt authentic. The resulting film was a smash hit at the box office, becoming the first R-Rated film ever to gross over a billion dollars worldwide, a feat only matched this year by Deadpool & Wolverine (2024). The film also received numerous accolades, including a Golden Lion from the Venice Film Festival, and 11 Oscar nominations including Best Picture. Joaquin ended up walking away with a Best Actor win for his performance, making him the second Oscar winner for a portrayal of the Joker, after Heath Ledger’s posthumous win in 2009 for The Dark Knight (2008). In many senses, the timing of Joker’s release could not have been better to capture the zeitgeist of the comic book movie boom.
But, the success of Joker was not without controversy. Many people were worried that the movie painted too sympathetic a portrait of the Joker character, and in a way they believed that the film was an endorsement for anti-social, anarchic behavior that often attributes itself to the Joker persona. Only 7 years prior, the infamous mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado was attributed to a gunman who wore make-up similar to the Joker, which is a memory that still sticks with movie-goers to this day. Because Joker is such an evocative idea of a villain, his persona has been unfortunately usurped by dangerous radicals in the online community, including incel movements and even white supremacist groups. For many, the idea of this origin film giving a more nuanced look at the beginnings of this famous villain was like playing with fire in an already volatile cultural moment, with so many people getting radicalized into these extremist groups, particularly angst-y young men. Now, Todd Philips and Joaquin Phoenix have always asserted that their movie is not an endorsement of the Joker’s actions, but rather that the movie is an examination of the way that societal problems and lack of care for mental illness leads to the creation of someone as bad as the Joker. Like with heroes, villains are not born but made as a response to problems in society and the trauma it leaves behind. Most audiences agreed and could see the nuance of the filmmaker’s intent, but there were many others, especially those in the radicalized community, that only saw the movie as a glorification of their anti-social behavior and they adopted the movie as a vindication for their extremism. In the wake of this movie, particularly with the unrest of the pandemic and the 2020 election that saw rioters attack the Capitol, as well as the targeting of marginalized groups under the guise of “fighting the woke,” it’s easy to see why so many people were fearful of the message that the movie was sending, even if it was misinterpreted. Still, Joker remains a controversial yet potent film that still sparks conversations today. And perhaps in response, Todd Phillips and company are looking to provide an answer to the volatile impact of the first movie with a sequel called Joker: Folie a Deux. The question is, does it offer up anything new or meaningful to the discussion?
Joker: Folie a Deux takes place not long after the events of the first film. Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is being held at the Arkham Asylum where he is awaiting trial for murder. His daily routine involves receiving medication to pacify his violent tendencies and he is allowed to roam around the courtyard under the watchful supervision of a group of rough and mean prison guards, led by officer Jackie Sullivan (Brendan Gleeson). Not long before his trial starts, Sullivan decides to allow Arthur to attend an Asylum musical therapy group. It is there that he meets another inmate at the asylum named, Harley Quinzel (Lady Gaga). Harley it turns out has been infatuated by Arthur after seeing his crimes play out in the public eye, including the murder of talk show host Murray Franklin on live television. Arthur takes a liking to her and they begin a courtship in the prison, leading to some mayhem along the way. Meanwhile, Arthur’s lawyer Maryanne Stewart (Catherine Keener) is trying to soften his persona in preparation for the trial, getting him on board with the idea of pleading insanity in order to get a lighter sentence. His defense will be that he suffers from schizophrenia and that the Joker is a separate personality created out of the years of abuse he faced at home. His defense is of course being disputed by the city that is seeking the death penalty in response to his murders. On the other side of the courtroom, Arthur’s attorney is having to face off against the ambitious and skilled new Assistant DA, Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey). But, Ms. Stewart is noticing that Arthur has been under the influence of his extremely volatile new girlfriend, and that it’s bringing out all of the bad aspects of his character into full view. She worries that the unstable relationship that Arthur is having with Harley is going to jeopardize his chances of avoiding the death penalty because the jurors are only going to see Arthur and Joker as being one in the same. Will Harley and Joker’s whirlwind romance ultimately lead to Arthur’s end, or is she awakening something far worse in him than was ever there before.
Perhaps the boldest choice that Todd Phillips could’ve ever made in response to the reception of the original film was to decide to follow it up with a musical. But, that’s exactly what he did. Folie a deux is a French term for shared psychosis, and the use of it in this title is to explain that both the Joker and Harley are both feeding the psychotic states of each other, and that is manifested in the movie through song. Music is the language that speaks to both of them, and so we see the descent of madness they both fall into being presented in the movie as lavish musical numbers. Keep in mind, this isn’t a movie that has a song here and there; this is a full-on musical, with songs intended to underscore the story and everything. This idea intrigued me, because it was such a departure from the original film which was a ground, gritty drama. I was excited to see how well this change in genre would work within the same world. Also, I wanted to see the anti-woke crowd have a meltdown, seeing their beloved Joker franchise take a decidedly more artsy direction that runs contradictory to their worldview, and would hopefully cause them to abandon their claim on the original so that it wouldn’t be co-opted by such a bad faith group of anti-fans. Well, I can definitely say that the meltdown among those people is happening, and they are throwing a massive fit over the direction that Joker: Folie a Deux has taken the franchise. Unfortunately, Todd Philips didn’t give much else to this movie to make those of us on the opposite side care either. I don’t know if Joker: Folie a Deux was too much of an over-correction for the harder edges of Joker’s message, but the movie that we got just has nothing that appeals to either the “woke” or the “anti-woke” crowd. The musical element is ambitious, but it rings hollow and doesn’t have the desired effect of creating a sense of awe with the audience. In many ways, this is one example where I can say that the movie is made worse by the musical numbers and not better. And most annoyingly, it seems like Todd Philips doesn’t really have a point to make in the end. The first Joker, for all of it’s controversy, still had a clear sense of what it wanted to say. Here, the movie just throws a lot of different big concepts all at us at once, and none of it lands.
What’s frustrating about Joker: Folie a Deux is that it ultimately feels toothless. It becomes clearer the further you get into the movie that Todd Phillips had nowhere to go after the first Joker. Whatever statement he was trying to make, he already made it clear before. So, the choice he made with this sequel was to flip genres and go full surrealist with the musical twist. The strange thing is that the movie is still in that gritty tone of the first movie, so the switch to musical numbers feel jarring and without meaning. And it should be noted that this is a jukebox musical, meaning that all the songs are not original to this movie. The film utilizes old standards of classic Hollywood, such as “That’s Entertainment,” “If They Could See Me Know,” and “Put on a Happy Face” to name a few. And you’ll notice that a lot of the song choices are very on the nose beating you over the head with their themes. The movie has a very La La Land (2016) feel to it, where it bounces back and forth between the fantastical and the down to earth, but it doesn’t have any of the cohesive narrative that that revisionist musical had. Perhaps the audience that’s going to feel the most frustrated with this movie’s lack of bite and cohesion are the comic book fans. In Joker, they got a fascinating deep dive into one of the most iconic comic book characters of all time. With this, the comic book connection is really treated like an afterthought. There’s not a single mention of Bruce Wayne or any of the Wayne family in this movie, which is odd to see a Joker film that doesn’t have any connection at all to Batman. At least the last film gave a hint at that future. This movie almost feels disconnected completely from the comic book, like it could be about any other murder trial. It’s only occasionally you’re reminded that there’s a character named Harvey Dent in this movie, because nothing distinguishes him as a character at all, and there’s not a single hint of his future as the villain Two-Face. The movie doesn’t have anything to say as a musical, as a comic book movie, or as a social commentary. It’s just feels like a 2 1/2 hour epilogue to the first movie with a few songs added in. It offers nothing more than that.
And the sad thing is there is that the movie is still well crafted from a technical standpoint. The period recreation carried over from the first movie, which depicts a Gotham City in the same vein as late 70’s/ early 80’s New York City, still looks incredible. Lawrence Sher, who was also the cinematographer for the first Joker, returns to do the photography for this movie. The film was shot digitally, but the team did a great job making it look like it was made with the same kind of film stock they would’ve used on the films in the 70’s. And when the movie does go into the dreamlike musical sequences, Sher does make them feel bold and colorful. And while the musical numbers are hit and miss (mostly miss), the one piece of the movie that still shines bright musically is the original score by Hildur Guonadottir. Hildur was the recipient of the first Joker’s other Oscar win for Original Score and her haunting music is a perfect fit for gritty world that this film depicts. The eeriness of her mix of low bass strings and horns fits very well with the fractured state of Joker’s personality in this film, and the score just does such a great job of setting the melancholy mood of the film. You almost resent the fact that the movie interrupts itself to start playing a musical number as it takes away from the beautiful music in-between. There’s definitely skill on display, and Todd Phillips definitely shows off his knowledge of classic films as the movie references not just old school Scorsese, but also has nods to the musicals of New Hollywood as well like New York, New York (1977), All That Jazz (1979) and Hair (1979). Even older musicals like Singin’ in the Rain (1952),The Band Wagon (1953) and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) get shout outs. There is clearly love of movie musicals in this movie, but the love also seems to be misplaced. The fact is, even with all the skill put into the musical numbers and the drama side of the story, the film never really commits to one or the other. It’s hard to tell if there is sincerity in the musical numbers, as it feels like Phillips isn’t so much trying to create a new kind of musical as he seems to be using it more for parody. Unfortunately, the movie never feels clever enough to get the ironic use of musical numbers to carry much of an impact.
For the musical numbers to also work, it also matters to have the right cast in place. The musical is primarily sung through by only two performers in this movie; Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga. Phoenix is no stranger to singing on film, as he received an Oscar nomination for playing Johnny Cash in Walk the Line (2005), a film where he didn’t do any lip-synching in playing the country music legend. For this film, he’s called upon to do some pretty big numbers which require a powerful singing voice, and strangely he still performs in character as Arthur Fleck, who he portrays as having a weak, damaged voice. In a way, the strain in his voice makes sense, as it shows the struggle that Arthur Fleck has in controlling his emotions, showing the psychological damage he’s still dealing with. And when we see him fully embrace his Joker side, his voice gets much bigger and commanding. Joaquin plays both of these sides well and there’s a lot of crazy turns that he takes with the character in this movie. Even as his character lacks the rich development that was found in the original film, he’s nevertheless giving it his all as an actor throughout the movie. Of course, on the singing side, the movie benefits greatly by having Lady Gaga in the cast. Here she’s taking over a role that in past films has been memorably played by Margot Robbie. I find it refreshing that her version of Harley Quinn is nothing like Robbie’s bubbly little anarchist. Her performance as Harley is definitely well suited for grittier version of the Joker mythos. The only problem is that Harley Quinn is not as important to the overall plot as she should be. We see her be a bad influence on Arthur Fleck in prison, but we don’t learn more about Harley outside of what Arthur sees with her. Again, like the absence of Batman, we are denied the inclusion of seeing Joker and Harley committing crime together like they do in the comic books. Harley is just there to be a motivator for the evolution of Joker’s story, and that sadly is another disappointing underuse of the potential of the character. But, at least she sings the hell out of her songs in the film; far and away the best singer in the cast. There isn’t much else to say about the cast other than there’s some decent work from a good collection of character actors, such as Cathrine Keener and Brendan Gleeson. I also want to spotlight little person actor Leigh Gill, whose witness stand scene is a highlight in the film and he manages to steal the scene with a heartbreaking performance.
Joker: Folie a Deux is not the worst movie of the year, nor is it the worst comic book movie of the year; both easily go to the travesty that was Madame Web (2024). But I will say that this is probably the most frustrating movie of the year, because of the waste of good talent that I saw on screen. I was thinking back a lot to my experience watching Megalopolis the previous week. Objectively, Megalopolis is a much sloppier, mismanaged movie than Folie a Deux, but it was also much more entertaining to watch. Both movies are wild swings, but one of the movies misses and still manages to be memorable while the other misses and just makes you feel nothing. There was little hope for Megalopolis, and yet I admire it’s audaciousness and the fact that it was just such a bizarre experience. Joker: Folie a Deux wishes it could be bizarre. Like I said before, there just seems to be this lack of committment to the bit from Todd Phillips. He’s making a musical, but the musical numbers feel restrained to the point where they don’t soar, with Phillips still trying to tie it back into the grittiness of the original film. And the fact that the movie never gives us anything more than a rundown of Joker’s criminal trial to center the story around also makes the movie feel small. It’s barely a comic book movie adaptation, with a baffling absence of any hint of Batman. Lady Gaga is giving it her all in the belting out of her songs in the film, but her Harley Quinn has nothing else to offer and like everything else in the movie, she’s just there because she’s a piece of the Joker puzzle that ultimately never fully gets solved. The must insulting part comes in the end, when Todd Phillips even appears to undermine the Joker origin that he set up in his original, beloved movie. You leave the theater wondering what was the point in the end, and sadly there is none. I get the feeling that Phillips was upset by just how many people misread the first film and he wanted to deconstruct the mythos that he himself had created as a means of getting the point across that he intended. He wants us to see the way that fame and celebrity can corrupt, and that we as a society are embracing more and more people not for their good qualities but rather for their extreme personalities, and that can often lead to horrible consequences as villainous people can be elevated to heroes for the angry masses. Unfortunately, too many people viewed the first film as a celebration of the extremes in society, and Folie a Deux feels too much like a not well thought out rebuttal to that misunderstood message of the first movie. I imagine this is all we are going to get out of this brief else-world storyline from DC comics. It’s not a good sign when you’re big musical comic book movie barely gets a reaction from even the most forgiving fans of the genre. My screening was dead quiet by the end, and there were even walkouts before the credits rolled. Joker will still live on in comics and on the big and little screen for years to come, but I doubt we’ll hear anymore singing from him for a while.
Rating: 5/10