Writer/director Todd Phillips's Joker got a lot of traction for a film that was supposed to be a one-off character study. It gave one of pop culture’s greatest villains a full cinematic origin story. It also earned Joaquin Phoenix a well-deserved Oscar for Best Actor for his performance as Arthur Fleck. Despite its status as being non-canon to the DC Universe (DCU), Phillips and Phoenix return for another Fleck tale with Joker: Folie à Deux.
Folie à Deux picks up after the previous film's events and finds Fleck incarcerated in Arkham Asylum while the court determines his fitness for trial. However, as he awaits his legal fate, Fleck meets fellow Arkham patient Harley Quinn (played by Lady Gaga), and the two begin their infamous romantic relationship. While one would expect to witness the demented duos’ nefarious deeds and dysfunctional love story, Folie à Deux's missteps take it to a hollow place.
The first faux pas is the attempt to make Folie à Deux into a musical. The musical numbers are a great reminder of Gaga’s incredible vocal talents but contribute nothing else to the plot. There’s not much rhyme or reason to the songs’ presence other than harmonizing dialogue that would be far more impactful if spoken.
Yet, the biggest mistake of Folie à Deux is being too dependent on the first film. Like its predecessor, Folie à Deux is an Arthur Fleck film focusing mainly on the man behind the face paint and maniacal cackle. That path is acceptable for the sequel because being character-driven is what worked well for the first film. However, in this case, it severely limits Fleck’s journey as most of Folie a Deux is highly derivative of the prior film.
The Fleck character cycles through the same toils and traumas he experienced in Joker, with the only difference being that he goes through it in prison and court. Considering that the first film is a carbon copy of Scorsese’s The King of Comedy, there’s a feeling no one behind the camera had any ideas about where to take the Fleck character next. It’s like when Bonecrusher could never make a song that matched “Never Scared” because of its “influences” from other artists…”allegedly.”
The impact of the previously mentioned blunders spills over into the acting performances. Phoenix was the early film's saving grace, but he’s too hamstrung by the faulty behind-the-camera choices to bring Folie à Deux to a watchable level. Not even a second serving of the emotional haymakers he threw in the first film is enough to keep you locked in. Phoenix’s chemistry with Gaga could have been a bright spot for Folie à Deux, but her role is minimized to mostly singing, and her interactions with Phoenix beyond that are far and few between.
In the pantheon of forced sequels, Folie à Deux ranks high. Everything about it feels contrived, from the “risk” of infusing music to the redundancy of the film’s pacing and structure to its failure to capitalize on the talents of its leads. The disassociation from DCU made Folie à Deux a tough watch, but the lack of effort toward giving Arthur Fleck’s story the sequel it deserves makes it a must-avoid.
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