My Corner

October 2024

Joker: Folie à Deux is no laughing matter. Putting on gritty clown makeup, as the opening of the polarizing sequel reminds us, is harder than it looks. So is crafting a sequel to one of the most financially successful R-rated films of all time. Todd Phillips returns with a film that is just as smeared, uncertain, and emotionally unstable as Arthur Fleck’s painted smile.

The twist of Folie à Deux is that it is a musical. Sort of. Half jukebox fantasy, half courtroom psychodrama, the film drowns in a vortex of stylized surrealism and tonal confusion. One moment, Arthur is softly crooning “To Love Somebody” and the next he is traipsing down courthouse steps. This choice might have worked better if the musical numbers advanced the story, but instead they often stop the film dead in its tracks.

Lady Gaga’s Lee Quinzel, who might have been Harley Quinn in another draft, enters with an air of intrigue. She is charismatic and compelling, but the role has clearly been significantly cut down. Fans are already calling for a “Gaga cut,” and it is easy to understand why. What we see hints at a complex character whose inner life is left only to the imagination. Gaga commits completely and brings a twitchy vulnerability to the screen, but she is ultimately given too little to do.

Joaquin Phoenix, unsurprisingly, dominates the film. His Arthur remains unpredictable and sad, shifting between wounded loner and theatrical provocateur. There is one courtroom scene that is so intense and layered, it nearly rescues the film from its meandering structure. Phoenix brings the same haunted brilliance he did in the first film, though at times his performance begins to feel indulgent, especially when paired with repetitive visual motifs and musical interludes that seem to go nowhere.

The problem is not the concept. The idea of Joker living inside his own musical hallucination could have worked. What holds the film back is its refusal to commit to a single vision. It is too fractured to function as either a true musical or a psychological thriller. This feels less like a sequel and more like an extended epilogue, one that reexamines the Joker myth without building on it in any meaningful way.

Visually, the film is stunning. Cinematographer Lawrence Sher creates painterly images that linger in the mind. The use of IMAX gives the film an epic, operatic scale that clashes oddly with its small, internal story. Every frame is carefully composed, yet the emotional impact is scattered. There are hints of The Dark Knight, traces of Megalopolis, and echoes of La La Land, but they never cohere into something original.

The tone is as divided as the audience will be. Comic book fans expecting Joker in full villain mode will be disappointed. Musical lovers may find the execution thin. And viewers who appreciated the first film’s unflinching empathy for the disenfranchised may be unsettled by the sequel’s more cynical stance. The film portrays Joker’s rise to icon status only to undercut it at every turn.

Still, there are moments that work. There are images and sounds that rattle, lines of dialogue that sting, and two lead performances that deserve better material. Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, and Steve Coogan provide support that feels grounded and lived-in. The only off-note in the cast is Harry Lawtey as Harvey Dent, who feels out of sync with the film’s tone.

In the end, Folie à Deux feels like a movie trapped in a mirror. It is obsessed with its own reflection, fascinated by performance, madness, and artifice, but unsure of what it wants to say. The title suggests shared madness, yet Arthur and Lee rarely seem to exist in the same emotional world. The film wants to be everything at once, but winds up feeling like a half-finished aria.

It is worth seeing once. Fans of the first film will be curious to witness this strange evolution. There are a few surprises, and the film’s ambition deserves some credit. But it is unlikely to have the cultural impact of its predecessor. It is a film built on masks, but too afraid to let any of them crack.