
I struggled to write this review, even taking a few weeks midway to figure out exactly what I wanted to say. My initial outline had split my thoughts into "what I liked vs. what I didn’t." I felt this was a fun way to organize my thoughts and offer my opinions, letting readers determine my stance on Joker: Folie à Deux. But I realized that I had so many thoughts of the movie and so many of them conflicting each other, that I found myself getting lost in the weeds of it all. So, after a few attempts, here is my review of Joker: Folie à Deux.
A little about me—I am a die-hard comic book movie fan. I know they’re not as prominent in the cultural zeitgeist as they were a few years ago, but I keep up with them. I root for each one to succeed and be good, even knowing those chances have grown slimmer with each release. I loved the first Joker film. Joker (2019) follows societal outcast Arthur Fleck as he experiences his “one bad day” and descends into becoming the infamous supervillain. The movie draws heavily from classic 1970s films like Taxi Driver and King of Comedy, while offering a modern twist that intrigued audiences enough to make it a box-office hit. The film played with perception, leaving viewers unsure of what was real and what was a figment of Arthur’s tortured mind. Released only months after Avengers: Endgame, Joker redefined what it meant to make a comic book movie, trading spectacle and an interconnected universe for a deep, personal, and artistic vision that stands alone. Besides a few connections to the Batman/Bruce Wayne mythos, the film perfectly told the story of how Arthur became Joker—and that was it. It was wonderful.
Which is why I was excited, albeit cautiously, for a sequel. I would have been content with the first film standing alone, but Joker went on to earn over $1 billion and won Joaquin Phoenix the Best Leading Actor award at that year’s Oscars. A sequel made sense, and adding Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn felt like an inspired choice. I was excited to see these two on screen together, and the decision to make it a musical, though unusual, felt like the bold risk the comic book genre needed. So, with high anticipation, I saw Joker: Folie à Deux—twice.
Joker: Folie à Deux picks up two years after the first film, with Arthur now imprisoned at Arkham Asylum. Here, he meets fellow inmate Harley “Lee” Quinzel, who forms a fascination with him. Together, they find love in each other’s madness as they dance through Arkham’s brutalities, face the outside world’s backlash from Arthur’s past actions, and approach an impending trial to determine if Arthur deserves the death penalty.
Spoilers ahead...
Contrary to popular opinion, I actually enjoyed several elements of the film. As a fan of old music and Broadway, I liked some of the musical choices. Songs like “For Once in My Life,” “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” and “(They Long to Be) Close to You” were highlights for me. In a musical, songs are meant to express emotions beyond spoken words, and these tracks let us glimpse Arthur’s mind through familiar melodies. However, the musical aspect seemed to lack a cohesive purpose. I anticipated an overarching message, perhaps about music as a healing force, but beyond a quick phrase at the beginning, the songs sometimes felt like they existed simply to justify Lady Gaga’s involvement. By the end of the movie, the songs became a drag to sit through as each number was allowed to fully play out rather than be edited to fit the flow of the film. I understand that the performances during some of these numbers were great and keeping them in shows how committed the cast was, but the movie isn’t here to serve the songs or performances - the performances and songs are supposed to serve the movie.
Joaquin Phoenix is great. We’ve seen him in this role before, and it was exciting to watch him delve further into Arthur’s character. But there’s little new in his performance. We know he can pull off the twisted “laugh-cry” as well as being able to starve himself to a skeletal frame, but while the first film was a character study, here, Arthur feels more like he’s being dragged along by the plot. I would have been more okay with Arthur taking a back seat if Lady Gaga’s character had been given more depth. Her casting was inspired, but it feels like they didn’t push her character far enough. Harley Quinn is supposed to be a twisted femme fatale, possibly even more unhinged than Joker. This could have been a fascinating role for Gaga to step up into, becoming the center point of the movie. But instead, her portrayal felt a bit flat and the character seemed to disappear into the noise, even going as far as having her practically disappear for an entire segment of the film. This could have been the character study of someone who becomes overly enamored with true crime and becoming a bigger monster than he ever was, but the execution just felt half-baked and unfocused.
And that’s where the movie’s message lost me. When reviews first surfaced for Folie à Deux, I was a little frustrated. People were saying, “This movie doesn’t have a message!” and I thought, “Does it need one? Not every film has to have a message.” But now, in reworking my own review, I see what those critics meant. This movie sets up several questions—a third of it is literally in a courtroom. We’re asked to judge Arthur Fleck’s sanity: does he suffer from multiple personalities, or was he aware of his actions all along? Was the first film a story of empowerment or the acts of a terrorist? Does Arthur deserve death, or does he simply need access to resources that could help him? These are classic Batman-esque debates, and the reimagining of them here was brilliant. The issue is that the film never resolves them. Now, not every film needs to answer its own questions—open-ended films can be invigorating. In fairness, it does resolve the issue by having Arthur die in the end, but due to the nature of his demise, Arthur’s death feels totally unrelated to the moral dilemma being discussed. Given this franchise’s nature and the response to the first film, leaving these debates unresolved and instead being left up to the audience felt a bit irresponsible.
Side note: while it wasn’t necessary to the story at all, I loved the addition of Harvey Dent. He was such a smug little asshole the whole film - in one scene, he stands up from his chair, smugly buttons his jacket, says three words, UNbuttons his jackets, and then sits right back down. What a move. The entire time he was on screen, I kept wondering to myself “are they going to destroy half of his face?!?” So that brief shot of him after the courthouse explodes, as he’s lying there hyperventilating - I felt a slight sense of accomplishment.
Ultimately, I felt that Joker: Folie à Deux introduced intriguing concepts and ideas but failed to stick the landing. One final example, which might be just my own fan theory, is something I think might one day be revealed as intentional. Throughout the film, Harley sings “That’s Entertainment” from the 1953 musical The Band Wagon. Here’s a quick synopsis:
Famous musical movie star Tony Hunter (Fred Astaire) fears his career may be on the skids, but his friends, Lester (Oscar Levant) and Lily (Nanette Fabray), have written a Broadway vehicle to revive his career. Tony is ecstatic—until egotistical director Jeffrey Cordova (Jack Buchanan) joins the project and casts ballerina Gaby Gerard (Cyd Charisse) as the leading lady. Tony’s second chance seems to fade, but he may get more than he bargained for as the show goes on.
I believe Folie à Deux was meant to mirror The Band Wagon and pay homage to it similarly to how the first Joker echoed Taxi Driver and King of Comedy. Arthur would be the Fred Astaire character, reigniting his career as Joker, while Harley would be the Cyd Charisse figure, reigniting the spark that Arthur lacks after two years of imprisonment. If this was Todd Phillips’ intention, it’s another instance of the film only lightly pressing the gas instead of going full throttle.
Taking risks is vital to revitalizing a genre like the comic book film. If we dismiss every movie that tries to be different, we end up with the same repeated formula. I think that’s why I struggled with this review for so long. I can’t fully give this film a negative review. It’s important to criticize things we don’t like, but not everything needs to be black or white. Having sat through nearly every Marvel and DC film, I can honestly say I haven’t seen another one quite like Joker: Folie à Deux. Was it a great piece of cinema deserving of its predecessor’s accolades? No. But it dared to be different, even from itself. It had moments of artistic intent, but then others that fell flat. The first Joker film was a masterpiece that gave the genre depth - this movie came nowhere close, but still managed to stick out from the rest of the fodder being released ever few months and for that, Joker: Folie à Deux has my applause.
-Jacob Hirsch Reviews
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