Film Review - "Joker: Folie a' Deux"

This one's for you, Tom...

Joker: Folie a' Deux

Directed by Todd Phillips

Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, and Brendan Gleeson

I'll admit, my feelings on the original Joker have changed since its release. The pacing is off, the script is a tad unfocused, while at the same time it spends too much time beating the protagonist down to get to a point where he can become The Joker, and the inclusion of The Wayne Family doesn't add much beyond "Bat-flavor". 

That...and the idea of The Joker turning as a result of mental illness just...I don't know it doesn't sit right with me but that's a topic for a different day-ANYWAY, this is a long-winded way of saying, despite my problems with the film, I can still find something in it worth revisiting almost five years later. 

One thought on the film I had that has NOT changed five years later, is that it didn't need a sequel...or at least, a sequel like this...

Folie a' Deux finds Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) resigned to a miserable existence while incarcerated at Arkham, two years after the events of the first film, and awaiting trial. While at a music therapy session, he befriends a woman named Lee (Gaga) who is obsessed with his Joker persona, and they begin a toxic romance...and uh...yeah that's kind of it. Honestly, how did they make this over two hours-oh right it's a musical. I guess.

It's truly a sight to see...when a sequel spends its entire runtime actively tearing down its predecessor. Folie a' Deux has no idea where it wants to take its titular character, or should I say Arthur, because this film spends a good amount of time trying to make the case that Arthur is not the Joker after all ("Hey Murray, when you bring me out, can you introduce me as Joker?" He said that. Word for word. In the first film.)

One thing I actually appreciated about Joker is that it left it up to interpretation on whether Arthur was the definite Joker or he actually inspired the Joker that Batman would go on to fight. Not to get into spoilers but the film takes away that ambiguity. The message of the sequel is incredibly muddled. Was Arthur gaslit into becoming the Joker by SOCIETY,  is Joker an alter-ego that came about as a result of his mental illness (Dicey...), or is he just a bad person? Well you can present all those things during the trial sequence and leave it up to our interpretation, but the problem is we saw the first film. He killed all those people of his own volition. Thanks for wasting our time.

This film was sold as a Joker & Harley romance, but Harley "Lee" Quinzel's inclusion in this film is pretty superficial. She doesn't act like "the devil on Arthur's shoulder" the film would make you think she is, and Lee is pretty absent for a majority of the film's biggest plot points. It all just feels like a waste of Lady Gaga's time and talent, which brings me to my next point.

What really sets me off, in the deepest part of my Disney-raised, songbird, ballroom-dance-trained heart, is this film is an AWFUL musical. I don't particularly like jukebox musicals (Musicals that interweave already established songs into a new narrative) because they can take you out of the experience of the film. Folie a' Deux could've used original songs or covers and it wouldn't matter because Todd Phillips does not know how to do a musical.  Are the musical numbers in Arthur's head, or are they real? Are they singing on camera, or is it a soundtrack? Is the music diegetic or no non-diegetic? MAKE UP YOUR MIND, TODD. 

Call me old fashioned, but aren't musicals are supposed to be grand spectacles with extravagant song-and-dance numbers? Instead we mostly just get Arthur shuffling around dirty rooms in Arkham singing Stevie Wonder and Frank Sinatra. I am truly baffled Joaquin Phoenix was nominated for an Oscar playing Johnny Cash in Walk The Line. I don't know, maybe his bad singing in this film was a character choice...or maybe he didn't want to come back for this film so he just half-assed it. But the film just feels so devoid of life. I said the first film had pacing issues but this one I couldn't believe how slow it moved. Normally a musical number would inject some life into a film but here it was more like "Oh please God no not again..."

Ugh...I need to try and say something good about this film. The cinematography is good. The intro sequence was well-animated. The supporting cast are all great, including Catherine Kenner, Brendan Gleeson, and Steve Coogan. Major props to Leigh Gill as Gary Puddles for his one scene during the trial. Everybody on the internet pretty much agrees that's the best part of the film, and perhaps if the rest of the film was like it, I wouldn't be writing this review. 

There's more things I could say, like how the inclusion of Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtley) is purely, again, "Bat-flavor" (also, how are the Waynes not mentioned ONCE throughout this film) or how Arthur's character takes a turn before the third act has...ghastly implications. But I've wasted enough of my time on this film. Joker Folie a' Deux is an unfocused, half-baked mess, and one of those rare sequels that spends its entire runtime giving the middle finger to its predecessor. I'm almost tempted to rewatch it again for research purposes, but I love myself too much to inflict such self-harm.

Perhaps the theories are true, and Todd Phillips really didn't want to make a sequel so this was just a big F.U. to the world. If so, the joke's on us, and we're not laughing.