Joker: Folie à Deux

When 2019’s Joker was announced, my first thought was that some characters just don’t need an explanation. For me, the Joker was always crazy, and I didn’t need a backstory to explain how he got there. However, as a Todd Phillips fan, I gave the film a chance—but I still walked away disappointed. While I had my issues with it, I was in the minority, and after the box office success of Joker, a sequel was inevitable. Though I wasn’t excited, I was intrigued when Phillips announced that Joker: Folie à Deux would be a musical. Unfortunately, like the first one, this installment didn’t hit the right note for me.

After the events of the first film, we find Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) behind bars at Arkham, awaiting trial for the murders he committed. In prison, Arthur is made to tell jokes for cigarettes, while he mopes around, seemingly lost. His spirits lift when he meets a woman named Lee (Lady Gaga), who reignites a spark in him. That spark soon turns into flames, as Lee and Arthur seem to be kindred spirits—if only the bars weren’t keeping them apart. But Lee doesn’t just want Arthur; she wants to bring out the Joker, which might not be ideal, given that his trial is about to begin.

When the trial date arrives, Arthur initially listens to his attorney, Maryanne Stewart (Catherine Keener), who argues that the Joker is the product of Arthur’s traumatic childhood. Things seem to be going okay, but Lee has already unlocked the Joker within, turning the trial into a spectacle. Lee has more tricks up her sleeve, but are they enough to change the fate that awaits the Joker?

Written by Scott Silver and Todd Phillips, Joker: Folie à Deux is essentially a downer of a movie, and everything that worked in the first film seems to have been forgotten. Phillips and his team took a completely different direction—something we knew early on when it was announced as a musical. The problem is that the film never meets the expectations it sets. Worse, the movie becomes uninteresting as it drags on. If being boring weren’t enough, Joker: Folie à Deux has very little to say, as much of the plot revolves around Arthur’s internal struggle over whether he should remain Arthur or fully embrace the Joker.

On paper, Joker: Folie à Deux sounds like it could be intriguing—a story about a sad psychopath, part court drama, part musical. But while that concept might seem like a hit, the meaningless and painfully monotonous story turns it into a swing and a miss. And as far as the musical aspect, it’s basically “The Joker’s Jukebox Musical” they are not original songs by the characters just an almost random songbook set to bleakness.  Trust me when I say this movie will test your patience at times, and you’ll find yourself questioning why it even exists. Phillips and Silver fail to bring anything new to the character, other than a bigger paycheck for everyone involved.

In the few areas where the movie does succeed, it’s in the sound design and cinematography, as the film both looks and sounds great. But that can only take you so far. Even though Lady Gaga shines with what little material she is given, the negatives vastly outweigh the positives. This film has only reinforced my belief that we never needed these Joker movies, and it seems the joke was indeed on us from the start.