Joker: Folie à Deux is a film that was never meant to exist, even in the mind of its director and co-creator Todd Phillips. As Phillips bluntly put it after Joker’s release in 2019, he had “no plans for a sequel.” He clarified that he would do it if Joaquin Phoenix wished to, but he had “always pitched it as one movie, and that’s it.” Joker’s very existence was to break the mold of the growingly tired superhero movies in pursuit of a more grounded realistic approach to comic book stories. By that logic, creating a sequel, especially when the original movie was not written with one in mind, is antithetical to what the movie itself is trying to achieve. Yet, against all odds (and logic), Joker: Folie à Deux released October 4, 2024 – exactly five years after Joker’s release. So what groundbreaking concept could possibly justify a sequel’s existence after an ambiguous satisfying ending to the first (supposedly standalone) film?
As much it pains me as someone who enjoyed Joker, I don’t think there is a good answer to that question.
The Predecessor
Joker (2019) was an underdog in the film industry that ended up captivating the zeitgeist of late 2019 upon its release. It also achieved critical acclaim and commercial success, the latter even more impressive when considering its modest $55–70 million budget. From the derivative yet distinct Joker iconography, the Murray Show monologue or the iconic stairs dance, the film made quite the impression; not just with critics, but also within popular culture. Joker was the first R-rated film to gross over $1 billion in profits and became one of the most successful superhero films of all time revenue-wise. It was also nominated for Best Picture at the 92nd Academy Awards and won Joaquin Phoenix the Best Actor award that night.
Something about Joker that particularly sticks with me is that it’s truly not a comic book movie. Not fundamentally, at least. It’s a Taxi Driver-adjacent film about mental illness and institutional failures with a Joker coat of paint. The Joker/superhero aspect of the film was critical to the marketability of the movie, not its content or themes. The aforementioned Joker coat of paint perhaps is what allowed it to find mainstream success, because otherwise it would’ve been a more obscure and depressing depiction of a man’s descent into madness, which isn’t to everyone’s taste. If that man happens to be Joker, however, someone who might not otherwise be interested may give it a chance and watch it.
Like many popular things, though, the film resonated with the wrong people. Some fans of the first film idealized Arthur’s moral transgressions in the name of victimhood to an oppressive system. What I took from the film is that broken systems result in broken people like Arthur who are more likely to turn to violence as the film depicts. Instead of renouncing the system, some fans turned to idolizing the Joker, or Arthur’s, reactionary violent actions done in retaliation to the system that failed him. Their focus was on normalizing Joker’s behavior instead of following the film’s well-intentioned call to denormalize systems that fail to support and protect its own people. This misappropriation of the film’s message would later be addressed and clarified in Folie à Deux which was only a drop in the bucket of criticism and complaints surrounding the sequel.
The iconic staircase dance scene, which sparked hundreds of online posts recreating Phoenix’s moves at the actual staircase located in New York.
Joker: Folie à Deux
Despite my satisfaction with the ending of Joker (2019) and weariness regarding the concept of a sequel, I ultimately was still excited to see Phoenix’s Joker back in action. My excitement only grew with the announcement that Lady Gaga would play Harley Quinn. I’m convinced that Lady Gaga was born to play Harley Quinn — the role could not have been casted better. Gaga’s look, essence and talent made her a well-received addition to the cast in my eyes as well as the general public’s.
It was also revealed that the sequel would be a musical, and this was met with much less excitement than Gaga. In fact, this choice alienated a good portion of people who enjoyed the first film. This may have excited me and a few others, but musicals have been proven to be unpalatable to a significant chunk of general audiences. I could see everyone’s anticipation turn to apathy towards the project after learning it was a musical. I was intrigued, though, not only because I like musicals but also because it meant they were taking a risk with this second film. After Joker made so much money, Phillips could’ve easily played it safe and directed another crime thriller in which Arthur Fleck completely leans into his Joker persona and hijinks ensue. That’s what general audiences want to see, after all. A musical, though, was a bold choice, so I was looking forward to it since the announcement in June 2022.
Upon release, Joker: Folie à Deux also set box office records… just not the desirable kind. It surpassed The Marvels to become the worst second-weekend decline for a comic-book movie in history at -81% (not that its first weekend profits were impressive in the first place). I wasn’t expecting it to have a wide appeal or even be that well-received, but I never expected it to be almost unanimously hated. I’ve always been an easy person to please when it comes to film — there are very few films I dislike. I came into the sequel with only one expectation: to be entertained, and that is not a particularly tall order for me.
I exited the theater invigorated, excited by the subversion of expectations that the film explored and the unconventional storytelling executed through the musical format. I was just there to have fun, and that’s exactly what I did. I thought it was creative and ambitious and I admired the risks it took. Never did I consider it a perfect film, and it was very clear to me that not many people would like it, but I could never have anticipated just how alone I’d be in my attitude toward the film.
While I’d seen poor sentiments about the film on X (formerly known as Twitter), I was kind of expecting negativity from general audiences because it was much more niche than the first film. However, for years I’ve watched a handful of YouTube channels whose entire video catalogs are analyzing films. It’s their passion, their hobby and their craft. While it’s not uncommon for these channels to dislike or critique films I absolutely loved, it was never hard to find a diversity of opinion between the group of channels I subscribed to. To my utter surprise, as their reviews of Folie à Deux rolled out one by one, the verdict was uniquely unanimous: it was bad. Really bad.
I couldn’t write off their criticisms as just “them not getting it” like on X, either, because they identified the themes and approaches that personally worked for me. Their problems, for the most part, were with the execution of said ideas, for which they had little to no praise. While I agree that the film’s risks were somewhat half-baked compared to what they could be, I don’t think that makes a film as “terrible” and “disastrous” as it’s being described. Most described the film as if it had no redeeming qualities, and while I generally don’t have an issue seeing their perspectives regarding topics on which we disagree, I am seriously baffled at the degree of disapproval directed at this movie from all angles.
Joker (Phoenix) and Harley Quinn (Gaga) for the newest film in the franchise. Retrieved from Slate.
At the end of the day, though, I’d rather like something than dislike it (especially if I spent money on a ticket to go see it). I’m not ashamed of liking something that everyone else seems to despise, but I can’t act like I’m not surprised when I very much am. Even with the critiques I agree with, it doesn’t stunt my enjoyment of it. Maybe it’s because Joaquin Phoenix is my favorite actor or I adore Lady Gaga or I can practically recite the Murray Franklin show speech from Joker word for word, but I overall prefer the glass-half-full outlook I have on the film. At the end of the day, I see film as a fun hobby, so I consider it a success whenever I have fun watching a film, regardless of what people who may (or may not) know more about film than me might think.
I implore you to see Joker: Folie à Deux and find out for yourself if I’m truly delusional in my excitement and appreciation for this film.
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