Joker: Folie à Deux debuted with a dismal 60% Tomatometer on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, not exactly the kind of response director Todd Phillips would have hoped for.
Joker: Folie à Deux has made a splash, but opinions are divided at first. The eagerly awaited movie, which features Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn and Joaquin Phoenix in the lead roles, made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday. Based on the reviews, the movie is already dividing critics.
Joker: Folie à Deux debuted with a dismal 60% Tomatometer on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, not exactly the kind of response director Todd Phillips would have hoped for. Even the reviews weren’t unanimous: while some thought it was “exhausting,” others thought it was a strong musical comeback.
David Ehrlich of IndieWire took a hard stance against the movie, calling it a “disgustingly dull sequel that attempts to make you uncomfortable, possibly even on purpose.” “This is blockbuster filmmaking as a form of collective punishment,” the review said, going on to show Lady Gaga’s “criminal waste.”
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave it three stars but described the sequel as “claustrophobic and repetitive,” adding that the musical “spirals out of tune.” The review says, “There’s an improvement, even though it ends up as strident, laborious, and often downright tedious as the first film.” It’s kind of a musical, with Phoenix and others shambling standards from show tunes, frequently in fantasy set pieces. This provides it with a structure and flavor that the first movie lacked.
Variety’s Owen Gleiberman referred to the idea as “audacious” and pointed out that Lady Gaga was “drastically” underutilized. “Despite its outward displays of outrageousness and ambition, the film is really an overly cautious sequel. In Phillips‘ film, Arthur is just plain old Arthur—he doesn’t do anything wrong and isn’t going to threaten anyone’s moral sensibilities.”
Other publications also praised the movie, with Deadline calling Joker 2 a “brilliant musical return to a world of madness.” “And in what others might say is a risky proposition, he 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,” Pete Hammond wrote in their review, praising Phoenix and stating that he knows the Joker character inside and out.
Robbie Collin, a UK writer for the Daily Telegraph, stated that Joker Folie à Deux “cannot quite match the dizzying impact of its predecessor.” However, it equals it in terms of terrible tinderbox tension—you never know when the movie will blow up.
The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney described Lady Gaga as “a compelling live-wire presence” and gave the musical sequences in the movie credit for making the “frustrating sequel” feel the most “electric.”
