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Good sequels take the strongest elements of the original film and use them to tell a new story. Some sequels settle for reference bait and make callbacks to the original to milk a brand for all it’s worth. The sequel to 2019’s Joker, Joker: Folie à Deux, straddles the middle of those two statements. It’s tonally similar to the original film but spends way too much of a bloated runtime patting itself on the back for the first film. Like the original, Folie à Deux was directed by Todd Phillips (The Hangover), and written by Phillips and Scott Silver (8 Mile).
Joaquin Phoenix (Napoleon) returns as Arthur Fleck/The Joker, while he’s joined by Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born) as Lee Quinzel/Harley Quinn. It also stars Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin), Catherine Keener (Get Out), and Harry Lawtey (The Pale Blue Eye). Joker: Folie à Deux follows the events of the first film, with Fleck residing in Arkham Asylum awaiting trial for the various murders he committed. Before the trial, he meets Lee in music therapy, and the pair become infatuated. It’s not necessarily a musical, but there are many musical numbers in the film.
Joker: Folie à Deux’s Story Is The Biggest Issue
Right from the beginning, it’s clear that Joker: Folie à Deux takes place after the events of the first film. What you might not expect is how much of the film is dedicated to discussing the events of the original. Aside from the musical numbers – which are mostly imagined – there are maybe three or four new story beats in this movie. Otherwise, the film is devoted to characters downplaying Fleck’s impact on society, or trying him for murder and thus talking about what he did and how he felt during the first movie.
Rehashing the first film is an odd choice, resulting in a fairly boring movie. The Lee angle is interesting, but Folie à Deux doesn’t do much with it. We won’t spoil it here, but the ending is also confounding. Not what happens but how it happens and when. The end of the film makes the rest of it feel pointless, which I felt at the end of the original film anyway. It’s a shame because scattered throughout the movie are some really solid ideas that if expounded upon, could have made for a much better film.
For example, Joker: Folie à Deux begins with an animated short that is my favorite part of the movie. In an older style of Looney Toons-like animation, the Joker fights with his own shadow. It’s interesting, well-animated, and tells a better story than the remaining 135 minutes do. It’s not even poorly paced, with the musical numbers breaking up the film nicely. The worst sin of the film is that it’s just boring.
Bringing Comic Book Characters to Life
The best performance of the film might be Brendan Gleeson as Jackie Sullivan, the Arkham guard in charge of Fleck. But, I could be conflating his performance with the fact that he’s probably the most consistent character in the film. Either way, Gleeson manages to be a little endearing while threatening, and there are times when you wonder if he might snap. As for the leads, their performances are so hard to judge because of the characters they are playing. Fleck and Quinzel are mentally ill, and so a lot of their actions in the film are either imagined or unpredictable.
This makes it hard to think about the actors playing their characters because there isn’t a character there for them to play. Ultimately, the two lead performances in Joker: Folie à Deux are hit or miss. Gaga nails the musical performances, while Phoenix shines in some of the more awkward comedian bits. But, both of them do fall flat occasionally. Leigh Gill reprises his role from the first film as well, and he gives a convincingly terrified performance as Gary, Fleck’s former friend.
The lack of interesting characters is a large part of why the movie doesn’t work. Even if you take the two we know, The Joker and Harley Quinn, they’re unlike any other adaptation of those characters we’ve seen before. That doesn’t make them good or bad. What makes them underwhelming is that the main slider for them both is seemingly just set to weird, rather than a chaotic evil undertone or anything slightly more interesting. Instead, we just get over two hours of one-note weirdness—or worse, silence.
Style Over Substance
Thankfully, Joker: Folie à Deux looks good. The costumes are colorful, with many outfits popping off the screen. So many of the long shots that show off buildings, especially Arkham Asylum, are fantastic. The musical numbers are framed quite nicely, too. It’s also incredibly crisp, with Phoenix’s face paint showing up in incredibly fine detail. These small touches help distract from how aimless the film is, but it doesn’t wholly take the attention away.
The song choices were fun – and in some cases funny – as most of the songs are Joker-themed puns. One choice, “Get Happy,” is a direct homage to Twin Peaks, as Leland Palmer (Ray Wise) sings it at almost the same speed and cadence. Plus, the twisted nature of someone singing the song “Get Happy” when they’ve killed a few people makes it similar, too. The score by Hildur Guðnadóttir (Joker) was great as it filled some quiet sections and added a haunting element to the film that might not have been present otherwise.
Ultimately, Joker: Folie à Deux is a mess and not a fun one. Sure, it can be funny. Seeing Phoenix in face paint giving an impression of a lawyer with a Southern accent, which is a good time. However, small segments like those are strung together by a narrative that is too self-aggrandizing for its own good. The result is a boring film that looks and sounds great but isn’t charming enough to get by. If you’re curious about the musical elements of the film, love the first film, or just want to support Lady Gaga, go and see this one at the theaters. If not, maybe just skip it.
Joker: Folie à Deux
With an aimless story that rehashes the first film, Joker: Folie à Deux is a boring mess that is good stylistically but falters in virtually every other way.
Pros
- Brendan Gleeson gives a solid performance as the film’s “villain”.
- Terrific costuming that pops through great cinematography.
- Great song choices with a haunting score.
Cons
- The film goes over the first film’s plot repetitively, resulting in a boring sequel.
- The main characters are one-note, weird.
- Phoenix and Lady Gaga aren’t discernible as the characters.
