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Don Reviews "Joker: Folie a Deux"

Writer's picture: Rob ErvinRob Ervin

I have been honored to have the privilege to be a film and stage critic for over a decade, and with all of the perks that comes with it, there is also a lot of work too.  One on my big tasks and the end of each year is doing our best and worst of lists.  Some years, I get worried as the year gets closer to the end that there will not enough films that would fit those lists each year, but in the end, I always seem to get there.  Lately, that list seems to be filling a bit easier, and this week’s review is doing its part.

 

Joker: Folie à Deux is the latest film co-written and directed by Todd Phillips (The Hangover).  Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Zazie Beetz, and Harry Lawtey round out the main cast in a story that takes place two years after the events of Joker with Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) is committed at Arkham Asylum awaiting trial for five counts of murder.  While there, he meets fellow patient Lee (Gaga), and what follows is Fleck’s trial and relationship with Lee.

 

This film has the same dark feel as the one before it, but that is to be expected since it has the same director.   The filming took place in the area as well, making the mood grounded in a form of reality alongside the alternate reality that belongs to Arthur.  The acting is good, with Phoenix and Gaga handling the material well with great chemistry.  Given everyone involved, I can see some nominations at the end of the year, but no big wins.  The rest of the supporting cast does fine, but I would have to give my shout out to Gleeson, who plays the role of the tough Irish cop to a tee.

 

The script itself just seems to fall flat.  Watching the trailers and promotional material, Joker: Folie à Deux is not the film I was expecting. This film really is the trial and a relationship: THAT’S IT!  And those two things are stretched into roughly two hours and fifteen minutes, which is about twice as long as it should have been. If you are expecting the story of Joker and Harley meeting at the institution during trial, escaping and starting a huge crime wave over the city, you will be disappointed, AND IT’S A MUSICAL.  If the filmmakers would have put more into the action instead of the music, it would have been a lot better.  I can barely recommend watching this film on TV, but only because of the performances of Phoenix and Gaga.  However, I will make the prediction that Joker: Folie à Deux will get the “un-coveted Maze Runner promise” meaning that it will make my list of the Top Ten worst films of the year.

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