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Some five years after 2019’s Joker became a breakout success with over $1 billion at the box office and an Oscar win for star Joaquin Phoenix, the long-awaited sequel is nearing its October 4 release. The movie premiered this week at the Venice Film Festival, and reviews are now appearing online.
The first Joker movie was controversial and elicited a number of strong reactions from critics and fans alike, and it appears the sequel is keeping with that tradition.
Joker: Folie a Deux brings back Phoenix as Arthur Fleck/Joker, who is now on trial for murder stemming back to events from the first film. Lady Gaga joins the cast as Harley, while Brendan Gleeson, Steve Coogan, and Catherine Keener also have roles. Zazie Beetz returns from the original Joker movie as well.
Music plays a major role in Joker: Folie a Deux, but the film is not a musical per se. It’s a musical in the sense that it features music and singing–and we would hope so, given that Lady Gaga is in it. But it’s not a full-on musical like West Side Story or anything like that.
Joker: Folie a Deux was produced on a much larger budget than the 2019 film, which was made for a reported $60 million before marketing and advertising expenses. Director Todd Phillips told Variety that estimates that Joker: Folie a Deux had a $200 million budget are “absurd.”
You can see a collection of review scores and excerpts for Joker: Folie a Deux below. For more on the critical reaction to Joker: Folie a Deux, head to GameSpot sister site Metacritic.
Joker: Folie a Deux
Directed by: Todd PhillipsWritten by: Todd Phillips, Scott SilverStarring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener, Zazie BeetzPremiere Date: October 4Rating: RRuntime: 138 minutes
The Wrap — No score
“Folie a Deux is the most interesting film about Arthur Fleck. It’s genuinely a little daring, genuinely a little challenging, and genuinely a little genuine. And that’s no joke.” — William Bibbiani [Full review]
NME — 4/5
“Phillips and Silver have delivered the last thing anyone expected: a socially responsible Joker movie that finds an intriguing way to explore the consequences (both on and offscreen) of the first film. Joker fans shouldn’t cry too hard though–Warner Bros. have cleverly found a way to leave the door open a little for the franchise to continue, should the need arise.” — Matthew Turner [Full review]
BBC — 2/5
“It’s a disappointing film–but I suspect that’s exactly what it’s meant to be. What Phillips appears to be doing is responding to the way Fleck was received by fans of 2019’s Joker. To me, he always came across as a passive unfortunate who stirred up riots more or less by accident, but some viewers saw him as a revolutionary Robin Hood, striking a blow for the dispossessed.” — Nicholas Barber [Full review]
IndieWire — C-
“Todd Phillips’ musical sequel feels like it’s bad on purpose. Boring, flat, and such a criminal waste of Lady Gaga that we should demand a public hearing, Folie a Deux tries and fails to make a point of our own frustrations with it.” — David Ehrlich [Full review]
Variety — No score
“The concept is audacious but the execution less so in a movie that takes a step back from the danger of Joker.” — Owen Gleiberman [Full review]
IGN — 5/10
“The worst thing about Joker: Folie a Deux is its unfulfilled potential. It begins with the promise of a novel approach to the Joker and Harley Quinn, placing them in a world where the opposite of cruelty is musical romance. Unfortunately, the DC sequel gets bogged down by a lengthy courtroom saga, which not only keeps the dazzling Lady Gaga away from the spotlight, but centers the movie entirely around its own predecessor, without doing or saying anything new.” — Siddhant Adlakha [Full review]
