JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX

As much an excruciatingly slow burn as it is a film that flings stuff at the wall to see what sticks, Joker: Folie à Deux is a messy, clueless sequel in which even Joaquin Phoenix appears totally lost.

2019’s Joker had two main things in its favour: a compelling story that broke the superhero mould and a committed, ultimately Oscar-winning performance by Joaquin Phoenix. Sequel Folie à Deux has neither off those and thus misfires on almost every conceivable level.

Picking up two years after the first film’s denouement, a mentally broken Arthur Fleck is about to go to trial for quintuple murder when he encounters arsonist Lee Quinzel in Arkham Asylum, arguably his biggest fan. She reignites the fire in his belly and – through a series of daydreaming musical sequences – Fleck once again is emboldened to channel his titular alter ego in the courtroom.

While Joker existed in a universe that was close enough to early-eighties New York to get under your skin with disturbing casual violence and a persistent edginess, Folie à Deux creates a fantasy world that is an ill fit with the established universe. The musical numbers – all of them too predictably on the nose – are a gimmick more than an integral part of the plot and, with the exception of a fine rendition of Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, lack the emotion to carry the narrative.

Another mindboggler is how the picture uses Lee Quinzel (AKA Harley Quinn) as a catalyst but not much more, leaving Lady Gaga stranded and not giving Joaquin Phoenix anyone to play off. The actor looks bored throughout, to be honest, not surprising perhaps, as long stretches of Folie à Deux contain mood without character development, build-up without climax.

Certain elements do work, like the opening animation by celebrated French director Sylvain Chomet, but overall Joker: Folie à Deux’s artistic ambition is oddly muted, its narrative hardly engaging and its reason to exist foremost motivated by building on the first film’s 1 billion dollar box office haul.

release: 2024

director: Todd Phillips

starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener