By M.N.Miller - October 4, 2024
On some level, you must admire Todd Phillips's bold, going-down-in-flames storytelling choice with highly anticipated Joker: Folie à Deux, the follow-up to his highly divisive The Joker.
The Joker went on to make a jaw-dropping one billion dollars worldwide. Perhaps even more shocking, with a 68% Rotten Tomatoes score pedestrian, the film garnered 11 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, while winning Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix and Best Original Score.
You wouldn't think the man behind sophomoric comedy hits like Road Trip, Old School, and The Hangover franchise would have Academy Award nominations on his resume. Yet, Peter Farrelly has one of these coveted little bastards on his mantel for his Green Book screenplay, so anything is possible. So, what does Phillips do for an encore after making a comic book film with surprising depth about "woke" culture that begins to stand up to capitalist pigs and social injustice?
Phillips brings in music icon Lady Gaga (A Star is Born) to sing songs that have little to say about the human condition, intersectionality, and trauma, even when having the opportunity to tap into delusions of grandeur, which is a theme that is cinematic in itself.
The hero of the story (and in his head), Phoenix, returns as Arthur Fleck, AKA "Joker," who is currently awaiting trial for murdering five people, including beloved late-night talk show host Murray Franklin. Still set in 1970s New York, the Big Apple is rotting from its core. The economy is still in a nosedive, crime is at an all-time high, and there is general civil unrest. Arthur Fleck has become somewhat of an anti-hero for the schemers, hustlers, and grifters society has rejected.
Fleck has finally stopped making those constant jokes that mask his deep-seated trauma. He isn't enjoying himself like he used to. However, a bright light emerges when an abusive correctional officer (Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inirsherin), who has a toe-tapping guilty pleasure for music, transfers Fleck to meet his lawyer (Catherine Keener) for his court-appointed psychological pre-trial evaluation. Joker catches the eye of Harleen "Lee" Quinzel (Gaga), who flirts with him by pointing a finger at her head, smiling, and pretending to pull the trigger.
Yes, it appears to be love at first sight.
What happens next is puzzling; too much chatter suggests the filmmakers need to understand musicals. Joker: Folie à Deux relies on a Hollywood storytelling cliché that has persisted for decades as a way to show emotional expression. Here, the script attempts to convey the concept we discussed above: the delusions of grandeur Fleck has in his head to cope with his traumatic existence while in prison. This theme is relevant and timely, especially in the age of social media, and aligns well with the overall narrative.
This story unfolds during a time when the Bronx is burning. The upper class has fled to the safe harbour of the suburbs. Those who remain, like Fleck, feel society's destruction of their identities. Nearly everyone experiences an existential crisis, and people like Fleck fall through the cracks, living up to the stigma society has placed on them. Yet, while the themes are well-placed, the musical numbers need to add up too much and carry little meaning beyond the delusion. The story needs subtext in a setting rich with possibilities.
These musical numbers come across as blatantly obvious, serving as a midsection and a beard to cover a cheap third-act twist. I cannot tell you how many trailers have reinvented a classic song in the past year, like how Ballerina uses “Tiny Dancer” or “Wild World” in Venom 3: The Last Dance. Here, 15 musical numbers using different pre-existing songs should reflect an emotional mental health manifestation. However, they have little to no thematic depth. They are shallow, formulaic, and frankly, an empty spectacle on almost every level.
Yet, I admired Phillips and scribe Scott Silver’s (Joker, The Fighter) ambition. Phoenix, as usual, delivers a great performance here, but his portrayal feels constrained by the script’s incoherent messaging. The same can be said for Lady Gaga, who hardly makes an impact in this role. The duo attempts to ask big questions without sufficient thought and direction, becoming too involved in a visually off-the-wall aesthetic that undermines the broader themes of mental health that the original film managed so well and that divided so many.
It’s as if Phillips and Silver’s Joker: Folie à Deux fell victim to their own delusions of grandeur.
Joker: Folie À Deux is out now in cinemas
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