Polarized 'Joker: Folie à Deux' reviews range from 'brilliant musical' to 'collective punishment' (original) (raw)

Initial reactions are in after the world premiere of Joker: Folie à Deux, and it's not so much a royal flush for Joaquin Phoenix's Joker and Lady Gaga's Harley Quinn.

Director Todd Phillips' sequel to 2019's Oscar-winning DC Comics blockbuster Joker debuted Wednesday night at the Venice Film Festival, where critics were split on the project, with select strongly positive reviews juxtaposed with several firm takedowns.

IndieWire's David Ehrlich said that the film felt like it was "bad on purpose" in his headline, with the review ripping the film as an "excruciatingly — perhaps even deliberately — boring sequel that does everything in its power not to amuse you" and "blockbuster filmmaking as a form of collective punishment."

He specifically pointed out that Phillips wastes much of his cast, including the addition of Gaga as Harley.

"In theory, it might sound like a delightfully chaotic idea to troll audiences by introducing Lady Gaga as Joker’s partner in madness, only to then relegate her to the sidelines for most of the story in favor of endless trial scenes that literally relitigate the events of the previous film," Ehrlich wrote. "In practice, Phillips’ decision to cast a generational superstar in a role that seems designed to maximize both her supreme talents as a singer and her all-consuming screen presence as an actress just so he can sit her in the background of a courtroom whenever he’s not cutting her musical numbers off at the knees… well, it’s a lot more criminal than anything Arthur Fleck ever does in this movie."

Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix in 'Joker: Folie à Deux'.

Warner Bros.

Similarly, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian said that the film "spirals out of tune" and is as "strident, laborious and often flat-out tedious as the first film," despite being a minor improvement, in his estimation, for its musical touches. But, he expressed that the sequel doesn't examine "anything remotely plausible, sad, funny or unexpected" about the titular character, and feels hollow as a result.

BBC's Nicholas Barber, touted the project as a "dreary, underwhelming, unnecessary slog, while Owen Gleiberman of Variety summarized that the new narrative de-claws Joker in a way, making him less interesting and altogether less threatening this time around.

"And that’s what we’re hungry to see the continuation of in Folie à Deux: Arthur the ordinary maniac who somehow, by embracing his identity as Joker, transcends who he is. The letdown of the movie is how little it makes us feel that," Gleiberman noted. "There are plenty of scenes with Arthur dressed as Joker, defending himself in the courtroom, singing this or that chestnut, sometimes in fantasy numbers that might almost be taking place in his head. But there’s no longer any danger to his presence. He’s not trying to kill someone, and he’s not leading a revolution. He’s just singing and (on occasion) dancing his way into his Joker daydream."

Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix in 'Joker: Folie à Deux'.

Warner Bros.

Meanwhile, Pete Hammond praised the movie for Deadline, calling it a "brilliant musical return to a world of madness" and "a collision of old-fashioned Golden Era musical fantasy and real-world violence." He also praised Gaga for being "smartly low-key" in her take on Harley, which he notes is drastically different from earlier performances by Margot Robbie.

Still, in a review that touts the film as "frustrating" and an "uneven sequel" that "doubles down on key aspects of the earlier film’s divisive character study," The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney also cited the musical flair as a saving grace for the film that he wishes it included more of.

"Their musical numbers, both duets and solos, have a vitality that the more often dour film desperately needs," he wrote.

'Joker: Folie à Deux'.

Warner Bros.

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Joker: Folie à Deux follows Phoenix's return as Arthur Fleck — who evolved into the nefarious Joker in the 2019 film — now confined in Arkham Asylum, where he meets one of his violent supporters, Harleen "Lee" Quinzel (Gaga). Together, the pair form a chaotic bond that leads to a path of destruction throughout Gotham City — all punctuated by elaborate, fantastical musical elements.

The film's first trailer included a teaser of said musical moments, as did a new featurette for the film that included Gaga singing Phoenix a version of Ruth Etting's "Get Happy," a song widely popularized by Judy Garland in the 1950 film Summer Stock.

"There's a romance to Arthur in the first film. Like, when he dances in the bathroom, Arthur has music in him, that was a logical leaping-off point for the sequel," Phillips said in the footage, weeks after revealing that the initial idea for a Joker sequel actually involved putting Phoenix on a Broadway stage for a real-life limited-run stage show featuring song-and-dance numbers.

"We started talking about music very early on. We wanted it to feel dirty in a way that people don't typically see." Phoenix observed in the clip. "We had to perform live and perform the songs in ways that maybe weren't the most beautiful rendition of the songs. There was something very exciting about that."

Added Gaga: "This music within him. It's messy, chaotic, it's expressing the complexity of love, and, in a way, brings Arthur to life."

Earlier this week, Warner Bros. also dropped a new preview for the film featuring a first look at Industry actor Harry Lawtey as Harvey Dent, the famed DC Comics character and Gotham City District Attorney who, in the comics and past screen adaptations, transforms into the villainous Two-Face.

The first Joker film — which followed a struggling clown who transformed into a violent societal outcast who mounted a grim revolution in Gotham — was also divisive among reviewers, sitting at a score of 69 percent with critics on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, while its audience score is well above that at 89 percent. The original film went on to gross over $1 billion at the global box office and was nominated for Best Picture at the 2020 Oscars, where Phoenix won Best Actor for his portrayal of the famed comic book villain.

Joker: Folie à Deux opens Oct. 4 in theaters.