Joker: Folie à Deux

If I had to hear one more song by the time the credits rolled on this one, I was going to scream. That being said, I didn’t think this movie was terrible lol

Set two years after Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is imprisoned for murdering a talk show host live on television while dressed as his clown alter ego, Joker: Folie à Deux takes place primarily inside Arkham State Hospital where Arthur is being held while awaiting trial. During a music therapy session, Arthur strikes up a conversation with Harley “Lee” Quinzel (Lady Gaga), a woman as troubled as he is, leading Arthur to believe that both freedom and true love are within his grasp. As his trial gets underway, Arthur’s relationship with Lee and the ongoing public fascination with his Joker persona intensify, pushing Arthur’s already fragile grip on reality even further. What unfolds is a musically infused exploration of a man facing accountability for his past sins, yet for someone like Arthur Fleck, atonement might not be in the cards.

When not overdoing all the singing and dancing, of which there is far too much, far too often, populated by mostly meh jukebox songs that never truly excite or entertain, Joker: Folie à Deux has a few things going for it, with the idea of seeing the consequences of the first film directly play out acting as an interesting way to comment on what happened in Joker while continuing to explore the depths of Arthur Fleck’s frayed mind. Furthermore, whenever the script slows down long enough to let us experience its story without the constant musical interruptions, seeing Arthur and Lee interact and grow in their own messed up ways becomes a fun twist on Joker and Harley Quinn’s comic book relationship, with the addition of Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey) giving fans, like me, some extra nerd love that I much appreciated.

Unfortunately, with all the attention paid to the musical numbers the script never finds a way to deliver on what I was hoping to see by the end of it all, with Joker: Folie à Deux being more preoccupied with showing off its sensational aspects rather than what actually made the movie tick, specifically Arthur and Lee’s evolving toxic relationship as well as Arthur’s relationship to his Joker persona. And while I’ll admit the cinematography is still incredibly good, and there are a handful of genuinely great scenes sprinkled throughout — one, in particular, involving Joker’s Mr. Puddles (Leigh Gill) from Arthur’s trial being a fantastic example of this — Joker: Folie à Deux simply couldn’t do enough to save itself, a shame if only because of the potential it had if handled correctly.

I didn’t know what to make of this one mostly because of the universal hate it received from both critics and fans alike, but when stripped down to its core and after ignoring some of the more extravagant aspects of the musical side of things, there’s a halfway decent story and central relationship happening here that might have done the original film justice had it taken a moment to breath. I’m not saying this is a good movie — far from it — but it’s also not the train wreck everyone’s making it out to be, making Joker: Folie à Deux a disappointing, but weirdly okay sequel that still probably didn’t need to get made in the first place.