Joker Folie a Deux - A Missed Opportunity Struggles to Capture the Chaos of Its Predecessor

Joker: Folie a Deux has faced much criticism for the right reasons. One major criticism is that the film has shifted its direction from a thriller/crime film to a musical. What made the first Joker film beloved by fans was its gritty, grounded realism of the Joker character. 

The inclusion of strange musical numbers in the film feels out of place. Many scenes where the musical is in place don’t fit the film's theme because fans expect a darker tone when watching Joker. 

The mix of psychological drama with musical elements has never worked, with some viewers feeling the sequences failed to drive the story forward. The film, directed again by Todd Phillips, blends dark drama with musical fantasy. Still, the result is a clunky and uneven experience that fails to live up to the dangerous allure of the original. 

The film was released on Oct.4 and is already heading to streaming services on Oct.29. Not even a month in, and you can watch the movie in two weeks. This tells you everything you need to know about what people think about the film.

Joker: Folie a Deux had the potential to expand on the psychological depth of its predecessor and pick up where the film ended, continuing Arthur Fleck’s story as the deranged Joker. Instead, it stumbles on a slow, dull storyline that fails to capture the dark, drama-filled storyline to keep audiences focused.  

Joaquin Phoenix’s return for a sequel to play the character he won an Oscar for in 2020 had fans thrilled to see what trick he could pull out next. But we barely see Phoenix play the Joker that audiences fell in love with. Instead, he just dances, and his character is never in danger or faces a confrontation that puts him in danger. 

The Joker in this film feels totally different from the one we saw in 2019. In 2019, the Joker in that film loved causing danger and confronted anyone who insulted him, but in Folie a Deux, he just dances his way into his daydream. 

Both the audience and critics rarely agree on a film. It’s usually one way or another, with the critics loving the film and audiences hating it or vice versa. When both dislike the movie, that tells you everything you need to know about where this film stands in terms of the worst films of all time. 

Folie a Deux has an audience score of 32% on Rotten Tomatoes and a critics score of 33%. Additionally, IMDb has a mediocre 5.3 rating out of 10. Reviewers pretty much argued about the same thing: the film falls short of expectations, including the writing, how the characters were handled, and the musical numbers falling flat. 

Another criticism of the film is its high budget: $200 million, compared to the prequel's $55 million. How could a sequel’s budget jump that far when the filming locations and technology were relatively the same as the original, with no CGI used in both films? 

The first film made over $1 billion at the box office, and the sequel is already bombing, only making $168 million with a $200 million budget. Based on the film’s performance at the box office, the team that made the movie will lose money. 

One thing that fans were excited to hear was that Joker: Folie a Deux was going to be a musical. Many people enjoy musicals; they’re one of the best genres and have many great films, including La La Land, Whiplash, West Side Story, etc. 

The musical numbers would be good, with the film solely focusing on a musical. Instead, they feel out of place in countless scenes, with little emotion to advance the story's weight. 

It sucks because we get a lot of scenes that hint at what could’ve been a great musical film when Joker and Harley Quinn host their show looking like straight out of the comics, but we don’t get to see enough of that to have a story to care about. 

The once exciting thought of this film was knowing that Lady Gaga would play Harley Quinn. This sparked so much excitement when the casting came out that Gaga would play Lee Quinzel for obvious reasons: her remarkable acting talent. 

Gaga appears as Harley Quinn in this film, bringing much-needed intensity to match Phoenix’s portrayal of Joker, but her character's arc feels underdeveloped and rushed. Her obsession with Arthur offers a glimpse of what their toxic relationship could be, but the chemistry between Gaga and Phoenix never fully catches fire. 

Their relationship, which could have been a chilling exploration of shared madness, remains dull and lacks the emotional depth that audiences expected. 

Ultimately, Joker: Folie a Deux feels like a missed opportunity, which is disappointing to say out loud, especially considering that this was the last time we’ll see Phoenix play Joker, ending the final film lackluster. 

Phoenix and Gaga still give great performances on screen, but the lack of narrative coherence and emotional depth leaves audiences wishing this film was never made. What could have been a powerful continuation of Arthur Fleck’s descent into madness becomes a joke of a movie.