Movie Review: ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ was probably a good inside thought

DC continues its tradition of dark depressing origin stories with Joker: Folie à Deux, the sequel no one asked for to the 2019 movie, Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, and Frances Conroy. Full disclosure, I didn’t see Joker because reboots of origin stories don’t interest me, and I’m not going to sit through a movie that advocates burning the world down because people are mean to you.

I don’t care if that wasn’t the point. Cut your trailers better.

Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is prepping for his upcoming murder trial in the maximum-security psychiatric wing of Arkham Hospital, which is as dark, dank, and brutal as it has always been. Arthur is constantly asked if he’s going to tell any jokes and his dour expression and vacant stare are pretty much the only answer anyone is going to get. He’s not much help prepping his defense with his attorney, Maryann Stewart (Catherine Keener), who believes an insanity plea is the best he can hope for because he was abused – the catch-all defense for sad people who go on killing sprees. Gotham DA Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey) is asking for the death penalty, because five murders is still five murders, and by golly, he’s going to get it. Arthur catches the eye of Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga), and in the brief moments they spend together, they make a “connection.” Well, he has a conversation with full sentences and she laughs at his jokes, and ladies, sometimes it’s just that easy. Their shared delusion (the folie à deux part of the title) is expressed through dream-sequence duets – 70s variety show, jazz night club jam sessions, rooftop waltzes – which makes up the entirety of their “relationship.” Arthur, for his part, isn’t completely stupid and has doubts about all of it, but her unhinged encouragement is the audience he never had with this comedy act and at her insistence, he embodies Joker, body and soul, for everything it’s worth.

For one hundred and thirty-eight minutes.

With music.

I did not hate this movie, but I also did not see the point of its existence. Most movies, you know, the good ones, have a character arc pushing the protagonist (or in this case anti-hero) into situations that bring about revelation, growth, or complete devolution. Joker: Folie à Deux doesn’t have any of that, in fact, there’s not much character development at all, which feels like a waste of the talent of sixty-three cast members. Arthur begins and ends a sad sack of clinical depression. Lee hits her stride in the throes of mania and just lives there with the sort of lax access we’ve come to expect from Arkham and Gotham City secure spaces in general. Everyone else just sort of moves in and out of frame, not for impact or moving the plot forward, but as background for the fifteen songs the audience is forced to endure that also do not move the plot forward. The marketing materials say, “jukebox musical,” which is Hollywood for we have a very expensive actress who sings and we’re getting every dime with some very awkward dancing, and as an added bonus, neighborhood rec center-level comic convention cosplay. It could have been called, A Star is Born 2: Makeup Counter Mayhem, soundtrack available on WaterTower Music and Interscope Records.

Who hurt these people?

Joker: Folie à Deux is absolutely not the worst movie I’ve seen this year (hello, Megalopolis), but it’s fighting for the most aimless (Megalopolis, we meet again). It’s not a bad film but it’s a terrible musical. There is nothing new to be gleaned from the histrionics, police brutality, and puddle jumps in logic. If Joker had been conceived as a limited-run television series (probably on Tubi), Joker: Folie à Deux would be the last three episodes, complete with the cliffhanger teaser that threatens there will be a season two.

Don’t you dare, DC.

Joker: Folie à Deux (2024) is Rated R for swears, police brutality, dirty naked men, sexytimes, stabbings, shootings, explosions, and singing.