Joker: Folie à Deux: A misunderstood mess?

Reel Impressions is The NewsHouse’s weekly film review. Contributors Francesco Desiderio and Travis Newbery cover everything from new releases to trending classics. 

Joker: Folie à Deux, the sequel to the 2019 multi-Oscar nominated and winning film Joker, is an intriguing, slightly experimental character study — and a general letdown for many viewers. In my opinion, this film is very misunderstood, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily “good.” From awkward, mumbling singing scenes to a dull and bleak ending, the second film in the Joker universe is not what fans or I expected. 

The first Joker film was a surprising smash hit, making over $1 billion worldwide on just a $55 million budget. This film was nominated for 11 Oscars and won two, giving fantastic actor Joaquin Phoenix his first win. It was widely regarded as a very good film but took some criticism for being very similar to Martin Scorcese’s 1983 film, The King of Comedy, with the title and character of the Joker slapped on. The sequel to Joker, released in early October, had a nearly quadrupled budget of $200 million plus another $100 million to market it, and it has only barely made back the production budget in its worldwide release so far. With this financial trouble and a measly Rotten Tomatoes score of 32%, Joker: Folie à Deux is not a hit with the mass audience. 

Despite the negative statistical and opinionated responses, I found several good things about Joker: Folie à Deux. This film certainly looked very good from a strictly visual perspective. The costumes, sets and lighting were top-notch and should be receiving more attention. This film had an obvious duality between main character Arthur Fleck’s reality and imagination. In reality, everything was drab and gray, and in his imaginary scenes, bright colors beautifully shined across all aspects of the scenes. In both worlds, the art department did not disappoint as there was clearly serious effort and talent put into the visual story this film told. 

One major complaint viewers had with this film was that it was a musical but not marketed as such, leading to many people feeling deceived. I agree that the marketing could have been better, but I am conflicted on whether this film was actually a musical. I am a fan of musical movies and would have loved to see what Joaquin Phoenix and costar Lady Gaga could have delivered, but this film simply could not decide what it was. There were certainly musical and singing scenes, but they were done in a way that left me wondering if full effort was put into them. In some of Phoenix’s singing scenes, he croaks and whispers through the lyrics with little background music, and often, other characters are aware of his singing, which is very contrary to usual musical scenes in film. The best musical scenes in Joker: Folie à Deux take place exclusively in Arthur’s head and therefore play into the idea that this is a mentally induced psychosis, the very subject of the film’s second-half courtroom scenes. 

All sorts of genres and themes were mixing and clashing, including a musical, a courtroom drama, an edgy thriller, and a commentary on mental illness in society. These are all great for individual films, but director Todd Phillips attempts to cram all of them into a little under 2.5 hours. My main criticism of this film was that it should have been more clear and concise about what it was, and it was honestly a completely unnecessary sequel. 

The Joker films are good in and of themselves, but I think it was a bad move to involve the mantle of the Joker at all. I believe that these films could have been much more nuanced and effective if they were completely removed from the DC comics character this series was very loosely based on. 

Joker: Folie à Deux was not the hit that so many expected it to be, but that is not to discredit its good attributes. This film struggles with an identity crisis, much like Arthur’s experiences in the film, resulting in financial and critical disappointment. I wanted to like this film, but many things made me scratch my head and wonder why such choices were made. I believe this film might form a sort of cult following and appreciation in years to come, but as of now, Joker (2019) should have been the beginning and end of this twisted tale.

Watch the Joker: Folie à Deux official trailer here: