Joker: Folie a Deux

Review by Mark Woodring

It’s no secret that I’m not generally a fan of musicals, is it? I mean, come on; we’ve talked about this a bunch of times. That said, though we all knew Joker: Folie a Deux was going to be a musical, they sure haven’t been showing us a lot of the music in the lead-up to the premiere, have they?

**NOTE: You can read Mark’s review below and Ryan’s review HERE, then use the player to listen as they discuss the film in more detail. Remember, though, you can listen to all our discussions of this and every other movie directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**

Joker Folie a Deux - Review
Joker Folie a Deux (WB)

 

138 Minutes, Rated R
Written by Scott Silver, Todd Phillips, Bob Kane
Directed by Todd Phillips

Synopsis:

Arthur Fleck is institutionalized at Arkham, awaiting trial for his crimes as Joker. While struggling with his dual identity, Arthur not only stumbles upon true love, but also finds the music that’s always been inside him.

 

Let’s not even get started on the fact the original Joker didn’t even need a sequel, much less a musical sequel with Lady Gaga, right?

But here we are, with a sequel that is a musical that features Lady Gaga.

What a world we live in.

Early reaction to Joker: Folie a Deux have been unkind, to say the least. Most headlines I’ve seen (and I haven’t read the actual reviews, mind you) have intimated that this movie is so horrendously bad that it’s an insult to horrendously bad movies.

But in this day and age, hyperbole is apparently the coin of the reviewers’ realm, isn’t it?

You can imagine the trepidation I took into the theater last night, then, can’t you? An unnecessary sequel, a musical, Lady Gaga, and absolutely scathing pre-release word of mouth.

*Shudder*

Let’s cut to the chase then, because if anyone is going to trash this film to within an inch of its life, it’s going to be me, got it?!

Only I’m not.

Oh, don’t think I’m saying this movie is good, because it really isn’t. If anything, Joker: Folie a Deux is just… there.

The “jukebox musical” features no original songs, only a smattering of classic crooner tunes, and only a few of those have full-blown fantasy sequences to accompany them.

So while I dodged that bullet (?), it kind of flew in the face of the lead-up, didn’t it?

The story itself is fairly straightforward and predictable. Locked up, awaiting trial, lawyer wants an insanity defense, client doesn’t… we’ve seen this before.

The wildcard here is “Lee.”

The one thing Joker: Folie a Deux does is kind of invert the power dynamic between Joker and “Harley” in that she seems to be driving him, or at least leading him without his objection.

I can hear the haters groaning out there.

It works, people.

It really helps underpin the idea of Arthur Fleck not being nearly as important as Joker, and the examination of whether or not there is actually a distinct “Joker” or if it’s all simply Arthur Fleck.

Overall, Joaquin’s performance isn’t quite on par with the first film, and while Gaga is okay, I chalk that up mostly to the script calling for a more sedate character, not one who’s over the top. Gaga does better work when she’s quiet and calm than when she’s overly animated (I’m looking at you, House of Gucci).

I mentioned to our PR firm that if I was a Rotten Tomato critic, I would consider this movie fresh, albeit barely. It’s closer to perfect than it is to terrible, but it’s still a far cry from either of those things.

Worth your time, but there’s no rush, if you get my meaning.

Joker: Folie a Deux is in theaters Friday, October 4, and stars Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Zazie Beetz, Steve Coogan, Harry Lawtey, Leigh Gill, Ken Leung, Jacob Lofland, and Bill Smitrovich.

And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.

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