Movie Review: Joker: Folie à Deux

Before heading to the theater to watch Todd Phillips’ sequel to his wildly successful previous Joker movie, I decided to give the first a rewatch to see if my lukewarm opinion of it might have improved. It had not, but after watching the dour and dull Joker: Folie à Deux, I found myself longing for the original which at least seemed interested in trying to entertain its audience.

Opening with an animated sequence that is a poor facsimile of Warner Bros.’ classic Looney Tunes shorts that is completely devoid of humor and basically sums up the gist of everything that follows for no apparent reason, it is quickly made clear that we aren’t in for a modern masterpiece. After that we spend an interminable amount of time watching Arthur Fleck aka Joker (Joaquin Phoenix) as he trudges through his days in the maximum-security wing of Arkham State Hospital. For no apparent reason he is marched into a random hallway in the minimum-security wing to meet with his attorney Maryanne Stewart (Catherine Keener) and is walked past a music therapy session where he spies Harleen “Lee” Quinzel (Lady Gaga) and feels an immediate attraction.

Guard Jackie Sullivan (Brendan Gleeson) mistakes this for the sullen and quiet Arthur expressing an interest in singing and arranges for him to be able to attend the classes (sure? why not?), where Arthur and Lee are allowed to grow closer, a relationship that sees his darker, “Joker” side once again rising to the forefront, potentially imperiling Maryanne’s plans to get him acquitted due to insanity.

Jukebox musical interludes are liberally scattered throughout that usually take place in Arthur’s head but are sometimes at least partially real and also sometimes representative of his and Lee’s shared delusions. Gaga unsurprisingly nails these and Phoenix is never less than decent, but they don’t really add much to the story, even sometimes seeming to grind the plot to a halt. Odder still, these big band song and dance numbers never really go as wild as they probably should have, occasionally hinting at the potential for moments of inventively deranged spectacle but never taking the necessary leap.

The back half of the movie sees the action largely switch to the Gotham City courthouse as Arthur stands trial for the events of the previous film. Despite vaguely recalling the trial in Airplane II: The Sequel!, many of the film’s best moments happen in this portion. When Sophie Dumond (Zazie Beetz) and Gary Puddles (Leigh Gill giving an excellent performance) are called to testify and point out to Arthur the ways that his actions have affected their lives it’s hard not to be moved. Likewise, the film’s point about the ways that people and society can manipulate people for their own personal agendas only to cast them aside once they are no longer of any use does resonate, especially in today’s world.

In the end though, while all of the ingredients for a good movie are here it never really comes together. The cast are great, the cinematography is good, and the score is haunting, plus there are some truly interesting ideas in the premise, but the end result feels like a movie that doesn’t like its main character, feels downright hostile towards people that do, and that chickens out in the presentation of its central gimmick. It will certainly give viewers something to talk about, but much of the audience will probably walk away feeling like this joke was on them. ★★