The first reviews for Joker: Folie à Deux are in.
Joker: Folie à Deux will be released in United States theaters this coming August. A sequel to 2019’s Joker, the Todd Phillips-directed movie recently held its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
The review embargo for Joker: Folie à Deux has now lifted and critics appear to be mixed as to their feelings towards the Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga-starring movie.
What are critics saying about Joker: Folie à Deux?
IndieWire’s David Ehrlich gave the film a C- score. Ehrlich wrote on X, “Joker: Folie à Deux feels like it’s bad on purpose. A fascinatingly lifeless troll of a movie designed to anger fans and bore everyone else. Its complete waste of Lady Gaga is worse than any of Joker’s crimes.”
TheHollywoodReporter’s David Rooney also called the movie “narratively a little thin and at times dull.” Rooney also said, “Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver in the first Joker had the sturdy bones of not one but too Martin Scorsese films, Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, on which to hang their story and set their tone. This one is built on more of a conceit than a solid story foundation.”
Empire Magazine’s Josh Nugent, on the other hand, also gave the film a positive review. Nugent wrote, “In a cinematic climate saturated by superheroes, supervillains, and even Jokers (there were at one point three actors simultaneously in the role), Phillips, Phoenix and now Gaga have fashioned a genuinely original narrative, even in its obvious magpie’s-nest borrowing.”
TheWrap’s William Bibbiani praised the movie for being “genuinely a little daring, genuinely a little challenging, and genuinely a little genuine.”
Bibbiani, who is also a co-host of the Critically Acclaimed podcast, further wrote in his review, “What’s most impressive about Joker: Folie à Deux is the way Phillips willingly undercuts his own billion-dollar blockbuster. He’s looking inward. Arthur is looking inward. Hopefully the audience will too, and question why they care so much about Arthur Fleck in the first place. Do we really love Arthur or do we just love how his story, itself a glorified TV melodrama about a sad person committing sad crimes for the sake of a sad rubbernecking audience, makes us feel about ourselves?”
Deadline’s Pete Hammond said of Phoenix and Lady Gaga’s performances, “Phoenix knows this character inside and out and in what others might say is a risky proposition, tap dances, sings, and sells this role like no other, if not topping his Oscar winning turn in Joker, at least finding a way to take him in different, wholly surprising direction. Gaga is smartly low key, not the Harley Quinn we associate with Margot Robbie, but her own person, dressed down and believably showing affection and connection with Joker, and more important, the man behind the makeup.”
Joker: Folie à Deux will be released in United States theaters on October 4, 2024, from Warner Bros. Pictures.
Brandon Schreur
Brandon Schreur has been writing about comics, movies, television shows, and all things pop culture for roughly five years. He's a lifelong cinephile who spends way, way too much money buying Blu-rays and trade paperbacks. You can find him on twitter at @brandonschreur.
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