In 2019, Joker took the world by storm. Whether you loved it or hated it, Todd Phillips’ gritty and grim take on Gotham’s Clown Prince was undeniably a cultural juggernaut. The film, starring Joaquin Phoenix as the mentally unstable and downtrodden Arthur Fleck, went on to win numerous accolades, including the prestigious Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and a leading 11 Oscar nominations.
Phoenix’s transformative performance earned him the Best Actor award, and the film generated over a billion dollars at the global box office, breaking records and sparking widespread debates.
However, with success comes the challenge of a sequel, and Joker: Folie à Deux, unfortunately, fails to meet the high expectations set by its predecessor. Where the original film walked a tightrope between social critique and a visceral character study, the sequel stumbles into an odd and self-serious musical, leaving audiences scratching their heads rather than captivated.
A Daring but Flawed Premise
Five years after Joker’s release, Phillips returns with a follow-up that takes a wild and unexpected left turn. In Joker: Folie à Deux, our tragic antihero Arthur Fleck finds himself at the center of an ambitious—but ultimately poorly executed—musical. On paper, this direction is bold and intriguing, but in practice, the film falters under the weight of its own ambition.
What could have been a fresh, unconventional approach to the comic-book genre quickly becomes a tedious and overly self-serious affair. Despite its unique premise, Joker: Folie à Deux is a long, plodding movie that feels like a waste of its talented cast.
To its credit, Joker 2 isn’t a lazy rehash of the original. Phillips doesn’t simply recycle the mood or structure of Joker to cash in on the success of the first film. Instead, he takes a huge risk by veering into musical territory and casting pop icon Lady Gaga alongside Phoenix.
The musical format could have opened up fascinating new narrative possibilities, but unfortunately, Phillips’ execution leaves much to be desired. Despite Gaga’s charisma and Phoenix’s dedication to the role, the film fails to capitalize on the potential of its leads, leaving viewers to slog through musical numbers and a plot that drags at every turn.
Joker: Folie à Deux – A Chaotic Sequel That Fumbles Its Own Madness
Lady Gaga’s Star Power Falls Short
One of the most anticipated aspects of Joker: Folie à Deux was the casting of Lady Gaga as Lee Quinzel, a character who is clearly a reimagining of Harley Quinn, Joker’s infamous love interest. Gaga’s casting brought high hopes that her undeniable star power and larger-than-life persona would inject new energy into the dark world of Joker.
However, her performance, while committed, is hamstrung by the underdeveloped nature of her character.
Gaga’s Lee Quinzel is an arsonist locked up in Arkham’s minimum-security wing, but beyond this, the film offers little depth. She’s positioned as a groupie obsessed with Arthur’s criminal legacy, having followed his crime spree in the news and obsessively rewatched a TV biopic about him. While she and Arthur form an instant connection through a shared music-therapy group, their relationship feels superficial and lacking the complexity fans were hoping for.
Their dynamic, which should have been explosive, feels tepid, and Gaga’s natural charisma isn’t enough to compensate for a character that’s more a plot device than a fully realized individual.
Lee is less a character in her own right and more a reflection of Arthur’s inner turmoil. While Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck is given a series of introspective, if monotonous, musical numbers to express his emotions, Gaga’s Lee is left with little more than surface-level motivation. Even their shared moments of song and dance, which should have heightened the intensity of their connection, fall flat, feeling more like karaoke sessions than poignant expressions of madness.
Musical Madness Without the Spark
The decision to turn Joker: Folie à Deux into a musical was undoubtedly one of Phillips’ boldest choices. The film features over a dozen well-known songs, ranging from Broadway classics to 1970s pop hits. Some of these include standards like “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” from Pal Joey and the Carpenters’ “Close to You.
” On paper, this jukebox-musical approach should have added a surreal, dreamlike quality to the film, reflecting the chaotic and fractured nature of Arthur’s mind. However, the execution of these musical sequences leaves much to be desired.
In scene after scene, Arthur and Lee burst into song, with invisible orchestras swooping in to accompany their impromptu performances. However, these moments lack the grandeur and emotional punch one would expect from a musical of this scale.
Phoenix’s Joker is often reduced to half-spoken, scratchy renditions of beloved tunes, while Gaga curbs her usual vocal splendor to avoid overshadowing her co-star. What could have been a fascinating exploration of the characters’ delusional minds instead becomes a repetitive and underwhelming exercise in mediocrity.
Joker: Folie à Deux – A Chaotic Sequel That Fumbles Its Own Madness
The problem isn’t just the performances themselves, but the sheer volume of musical numbers. The relentless onslaught of song after song begins to feel tiresome, especially when the plot moves at a glacial pace. Rather than enhancing the story, the musical sequences only serve to interrupt it, turning what should be emotional high points into forgettable filler. By the time the credits roll, Joker: Folie à Deux feels more like an exhausting, never-ending karaoke night than a thought-provoking exploration of madness.
A Tedious Courtroom Drama
In terms of plot, Joker: Folie à Deux picks up where the first film left off, with Arthur locked up in Arkham Asylum following his violent rampage. The story revolves around Arthur’s impending trial for the murders of five people, one of which took place on live television. He’s become a folk hero to Gotham’s clown-mask-wearing nihilists, but inside Arkham, he remains a pitiable loser.
Much of the film’s runtime is devoted to courtroom scenes where Arthur’s sympathetic lawyer (played by Catherine Keener) argues that Joker is a manifestation of Arthur’s dissociative identity disorder, a defense that Gotham district attorney Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey) vehemently opposes.
The courtroom drama, which could have been an interesting vehicle for exploring Arthur’s fractured psyche, quickly becomes bogged down in repetitive dialogue and a lack of suspense. The film vacillates between portraying Arthur as a victim of his mental illness and a cold-blooded sociopath, but it never fully commits to either interpretation.
Instead, the film leaves these questions hanging, offering little in the way of resolution or insight into Arthur’s motivations.
The trial itself is interrupted by musical numbers and Arthur’s hallucinations, blurring the line between reality and delusion. While this approach may have worked in a more tightly constructed narrative, here it feels like a distraction. The plot moves at a snail’s pace, with long stretches of musical stasis breaking up what little forward motion exists.
A Sequel That Goes Nowhere
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of Joker: Folie à Deux is that, despite all the chaos and musical interludes, nothing of consequence actually happens. The film spends nearly two and a half hours spinning its wheels, with little plot progression or character development. Arthur remains a “poor little clownsie-wownsie”—a pitiful, tortured soul whose motivations are as murky at the end of the film as they were at the beginning.
Lee Quinzel, too, remains an enigma. Is she a vulnerable fangirl who’s fallen under the Joker’s spell, or a heartless femme fatale manipulating him for her own purposes? The film never provides a clear answer, leaving Gaga’s character frustratingly underwritten. Instead of being a compelling co-lead, Lee becomes little more than a mirror reflecting Arthur’s inner turmoil.
Even the climactic moments of violence, which should have provided a jolt of energy, feel underwhelming. The film builds to a final act that, instead of delivering the catharsis fans were hoping for, leaves them scratching their heads. Without spoiling the ending, it’s safe to say that Joker: Folie à Deux forecloses the possibility of another sequel—and perhaps that’s for the best.
Joker: Folie à Deux – A Chaotic Sequel That Fumbles Its Own Madness
A Self-Indulgent Misfire
In the end, Joker: Folie à Deux feels like a self-indulgent misfire. While Phillips and his team clearly aimed to create something bold and unconventional, the result is a muddled, joyless film that lacks the spark of its predecessor. Gaga and Phoenix give it their all, but their efforts can’t save a movie weighed down by its own misguided ambition.
Without the visceral intensity of the first film, Joker: Folie à Deux flounders, leaving audiences with a sense of disappointment. Instead of pushing the boundaries of the comic-book genre, Phillips delivers a sequel that feels more like a bad Joker fanfic than a worthy follow-up to one of the most talked-about films of 2019.
