Everyone loves a clown. Well, maybe not everyone in Gotham City’s Arkham – one of the two major settings in Todd Phillips’ psychological musical drama Joker: Folie à Deux. As the film begins, we witness an emaciated Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) going about his typical day at Arkham, taking his medication, being mockingly asked by the guards if he has a joke, and standing outside in the yard for some fresh air.

On his way to meet with his lawyer, Maryanne Stewart (Catherine Keener), Arthur notices a blonde woman (Lady Gaga) singing in a choir. He catches her eye, and later, guard Jackie Sullivan (Brendan Gleeson) gets permission for Arthur to join the group as a reward for good behavior. During one song, Arthur approaches the blonde and asks her name. “I’m Lee,” she answers, and describes how she saw him on television the night he fatally attacked talk show host Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro).

Lee confesses, “For once in my life I didn’t feel so alone anymore.”

Arthur is brought back to the breakroom and learns from both news reports and his fellow inmates that he’s going on trial for the murders he’s committed. The District Attorney is seeking the death penalty. Arthur bursts into song, singing, “For once in my life, I have someone who needs me” – or at least in his mind he launches into the classic tune.

Arthur’s lawyer believes she can get him off by setting up a defense claiming he suffers from personality disorder. It was the Joker who killed those people, not Arthur Fleck. But Arthur is too caught up trying to be near his soul mate, Lee, who is on her way to becoming his beloved Harley Quinn, to play along. Lee believes he can do anything … because he IS the Joker.

Joker: Folie à Deux is a ponderous hodgepodge mess of a film that never has a clear vision of what it aspires to be or where it’s going. It’s a terrible mish-mash of courtroom melodrama, edgy and violent asylum scenes, a goofy, uneven musical, and a love/obsession story.

Joaquin Phoenix reprises his Oscar-winning role as Arthur Fleck/Joker. In Joker, he was obsessed with making people laugh. In the sequel, he’s fixated on a woman as unhinged as he is. There’s nothing new added to the character of Fleck and his Joker. In fact, what’s missing is his building rage and sudden acts of violence, which made the first film uneasy and disturbing. So, what is Joker the clown absent his homicidal tendencies? Boring.

Lady Gaga delivers the best performance in the R-rated comic book-inspired film as Lee, Joker’s number one fan and new love interest. She’s both obsessed with and cunningly manipulative of her new beau, and the best scenes in the film are between Gaga and Phoenix. Sadly, their scenes are always ruined or cut short by a song that the two actors burst into, thus ruining the dramatic tension.

By the time the film segues into being a courtroom drama, Joker: Folie à Deux feels like a third-rate rip off of the Al Pacino film And Justice For All. You expect Fleck, now in full Joker make-up and suit, to burst out yelling, “You’re out of order! You’re out of order! The whole trial is out of order! They’re out of order!” which would have been better than what actually happens.

Joker: Folie à Deux is a textbook case of a sequel that serves no purpose and lacks creativity, and is nothing more than a way to cash in on the success of the 2019 film.

GRADE: D

MPAA Rating: R for language throughout, brief full nudity, some sexuality, and some strong violence
Running Time: 2 hours 18 minutes
Release Date: October 4, 2024
Studio: Warner Bros Pictures