A critical and commercial flop, how did Joker: Folie à Deux get it so frustratingly wrong?

If someone went back in time to October 2019 and told the world, gripped in the clutches of Joker fever, that the sequel for the movie opened with less than Morbius on its debut weekend, they wouldn’t believe you. Firstly because Morbius wouldn’t have been released then, so they likely wouldn’t give a shite – but secondly because Joaquin Phoenix’s Oscar winning performance in Todd Phillips movie was a cultural phenomenon. It was not without controversy and division, but it was a huge success. Perhaps not always for the right reasons, but a success it was. When news broke that Lady Gaga had signed on to play Harley Quinn in a sequel, it felt like a match made in heaven and that another mega smash that would win over critics loomed on the 2024 horizon. And yet here we are. Joker: Folie á Deux is a critical and commercial failure, arguably the most disappointing film of the year – so how did everyone involved get it so wrong?

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I think there were plenty of initial groans when it was announced that Joker: Folie á Deux was going to be a musical. Whilst initially I as admittedly one of these groaners, I wasn’t groaning because I thought Todd Phillips, Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga couldn’t pull it off. I more groaned at how extra the entire spectacle was going to be. But how wrong were we all, when Joker: Folie á Deux debuted a “shy musical” – one that seemingly dodges the fact it is one at all. The songs are off kilter and unspecial – and whilst some are now arguing that that’s the point of it, the whole thing feels tepid. It’s constantly unclear who this film was made for. Fans of the first one are being short changed (and perhaps for the best), and fans of Gaga looking for a mother monster spectacle aren’t really getting that either.

The first Joker film inadvertently made Arthur Fleck’s Joker a bit of an unintentional hero, against Phillips and Phoenix’s wishes. It seemed that the wrong aspects of the film were being taken into people’s hearts – and there were fears that Joker would inspire mass violence in the US. I remember when I watched the film in the cinema, a young lad cheered for Joker the character – certainly not the point, but easy to see why it could be construed that way. It was jarring, and I liked the film a lot less because of it.

I did not love Joker, but Folie à Deux makes it seem like a masterpiece in comparison. So much of this sequel is spent discussing the first film that you might be forgiven for thinking you’ve switched on a YouTube recap video.

Now that Joker: Folie á Deux has debuted, and his become a critical and commercial failure, there is a lot of conversation as to why. It has a rotten score of 33 per cent, and as I mentioned earlier – took less than Morbius at the box office on its first weekend. Now theories have emerged that perhaps this was Phillips’ plan all along. Joker: Folie á Deux has been viewed as a film purposely making itself a failure so to let down those who took the first film in the wrong way – purposely not giving fans what they want in order to make sure nobody sees Joker as heroic. Gaga’s portrayal of Harley Quinn, who is obsessed with Fleck after watching a movie adaptation of the events of the first film, represents the films wanting him to be something he ultimately is not. It’s an interesting approach and well intentioned if it is the case, but I don’t think the film holds it together.

If you need people to explain a long-winded theory about why the film might actually be good, it probably is not very good.

Joker: Folie á Deux winds up a failure because it doesn’t pull of its self destructive and meta-critical objective in the way that it intends – it is simply boring. You can find a more engaging way to alienate the incel community who took Joker to their hearts and still be a fun movie. I wish the delusional musical numbers were bigger, I wish the courtroom drama was more engaging and I VERY much wish the film didn’t have a runtime of nearly three hours. I am however satisfied we will likely never again be forced to endure Joker mania in Todd Phillips’ vision.

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