Joaquin Phoenix

Lady Gaga

Brendan Gleeson

Catherine Keener

Zazie Beetz

Steve Coogan

Harry Lawtey

Leigh Gill

Ken Leung

Jacob Lofland

Sharon Washington

Troy Fromin

Bill Smitrovich

John Lacy

Gattlin Griffith

Tim Dillon

Mike Houston

G.L. McQueary

Jimmy Smagula

Brian Donahue

Alfred Rubin Thompson

Robert Loftus

Carson Higgins

Ben van Diepen

Casey Burke

Connor Storrie

Gregg Daniel

Mac Brandt

George Carroll

Wayne Dehart

Ajgie Kirkland

Terrance T.P. Polite

Jimmy Walker Jr.

Toney Wilson

June Carryl

Don McManus

Angela D. Watson

Murphy Guyer

Hudson Oz

Ray Lykins

Will Ropp

Ashton Moio

Emilio Rojas

Joe Spinney

Richard Busser

Bill Finger

Bob Kane

Jerry Robinson

Emma Tillinger Koskoff

Joseph Garner

Todd Phillips

Georgia Kacandes

Jeff Groth

Mia Bauman

Mitchell Beck

Jessie Bishop

John Damiani

Jacqueline Fernandez

Heather Galipo

Kay Georgiou

Brian Kinney

Nicki Ledermann

Alyssa Morgan

Martina Sykes

Sweet P. Vaughn

Randy Manion

David Webb

Trevor Tavares

Travis Rehwaldt

Ryan Robert Howard

Brian Machleit

Scott Silver

Francine Maisler

Bryan Mendoza

Steven A. Morrow

Michael Kaleta

Lori DeLapp

Jason Ruder

Ken Haber

Aaron Hurvitz

Gregory Irwin

John Reynolds

Rick Chavez

Lawrence Sher

Arianne Phillips

Michael Uslan

Mark Friedberg

Hildur Guðnadóttir

Sydnie Ponic

Sarah Contant

Noelle King

Hogan Lee

Michael Thurman

Bruce Timm

Paul Dini

Randall Poster

George Drakoulias

Nitasha Bhambree

Erik Aadahl

Shauna Duggins

Firat Averbek

Jared Patrick Gerbig

Erica Hohf

David Meyer

Gordon Stotz

Dan Webster

Matthew Bouchard

Michael Duenas

Matthew Lillis

Brendon O'Dell

Carson O'Dell

Marc Tantin

Taylor Walters

Meghan Currier

Mallory Thompson

Sylvain Chomet

Pete Chiappetta

Andrew Lary

Anthony Tittanegro

Michael Arnold

Justine Conte

Beverly Abbott

Colby Lemmo

Richard Epper

Doug Coleman

Eliza Coleman

Matt Berberi

Tim Rigby

Declan Mulvey

Tom Ozanich

Dean A. Zupancic

Joker Collection

Drama

Crime

Thriller

Joker: Folie à Deux

Warner Bros. Pictures

Joint Effort

Domain Entertainment

United States of America

English

asylum

villain

musical

insane asylum

based on comic

sequel

courtroom

mental illness

madness

1980s

philosophical

prisoner abuse

dark romance

jukebox musical

commanding

foreboding

CinemaSerf

I was going to go and see the first Joaquin Phoenix outing as the "Joker" (2019) to remind my self of who did what to whom, but I didn't have time. I think I am glad because I recall that being so very much better than this. Here, we pick up after "Fleck" (Phoenix) has been on his clown-faced slaughtering spree and is in prison supervised by prison officer "Jackie" (Brendan Gleeson). His lawyer "Maryanne" (Catherine Keener) is trying to have him declared competent to stand trial for his crimes so she can plead some sort of personality disorder defence - he's not "Fleck" when he's the "Joker" sort of thing. Thing is, he encounters "Lee" (Lady Gaga) at a prison sing-a-long and she manages to ingratiate herself with him and then to derail that plan ensuring the plot twists it's way into the courtroom where his conviction for multiple homicides quickly appears as inevitable as there being a song in the film. Now I did like the soundtrack, but by the way Todd Phillips has presented this, it might as well have been either Tony Bennett or Newley who took on the leading role as her part is largely a series of entertainingly photographed music videos with the thinnest slices of meat constituting a weak story in between. It's a love story, I suppose, but that wasn't really what I turned up to see. There's loads of excess, but no menace or jeopardy and the character's previous adeptness at treading the thin line between sanity and madness isn't really developed at all here. He comes across more as a pathetic, emaciated, prisoner whose flame has well and truly gone out. His legal antagonist (Harry Lawtey) looks about eleven years old but that doesn't really matter either as the judicial proceedings themselves offer us little by way of sustaining drama, even as we build to a denouement that offers the tiniest bit of hope then... It's a stunning piece of cinema, money has been spent and there's imagination a-plenty from the production's designers. It's just too much of a jigsaw of a film with too little plot serving as a vehicle for an album boxed-set that's doubtless ready to hit the shops.

both **JOKER** movies were clickbait. he is not the joker & she is not Harley. (they are Arthur & Lee) 🤮**that's what you get for overhyping first movie!** 😂🤣

Manuel São Bento

FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://talkingfilms.net/joker-folie-a-deux-review-an-ambitious-musical-failure/

"Joker: Folie à Deux holds immense technical and artistic merit, but it fails to replicate the success and impact of the original.

Todd Phillips’ boldness in turning the film into a musical is admirable, but the execution ends up being incoherent, with abrupt transitions between the dark drama and the musical numbers, resulting in a jarring experience, made even more frustrating by the studio’s embarrassing secrecy about the movie’s format.

While visually impressive and with standout performances from Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, the lack of thematic and character development makes this sequel an ambitious yet ultimately disappointing attempt that adds little to the thought-provoking study presented in 2019."

Rating: C-

Brent Marchant

Combining movie genres can be tricky business. When the mix is right, the outcome can be truly impressive, but, when it’s off, it can spell cinematic disaster. In the case of this long-awaited sequel to the 2019 box office and critically acclaimed success, unfortunately, the result is closer to the latter than the former. Picking up where the protagonist’s story left off, this saga about charismatic villain Arthur Fleck (a.k.a., the Joker) (Joaquin Phoenix) finds him in prison awaiting trial for his string of heinous crimes. Most of the picture’s first half takes place here, an unlikely venue for Arthur meeting the love of his life, the psychopathic Lee Quinzel (a.k.a., Harley Quinn) (Lady Gaga), who diligently stands by her man when he eventually goes to court, the primary focus of the film’s second half. So, at this point, the picture is already part prison film, part courtroom drama and part dark romance. But, if that weren’t enough, writer-director Todd Phillips draws upon a fourth genre – musicals – to make the mix even more overstuffed (but, hey, if you’ve got a talent like Lady Gaga at your disposal, why not, right?). The result is a convoluted, overlong, often-uninteresting offering that’s heavy on style but weak on substance and not especially interesting. Admittedly, the performances of the two leads and many of the supporting players (Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener and Steve Coogan in particular) are quite good, doing a more than commendable job of making this material look far better than it actually is. In addition, stylistically speaking, the picture is terrific when it comes to its production design, costuming and cinematography. And the soundtrack is great, too, including an array of superbly chosen standards to complement the narrative (even if there are a few too many selections). But these strengths by themselves aren’t enough to make a good picture overall; what’s stuck in between these elements feels more like filler than substance, and that’s where the movie falls apart. In my view, “Joker: Folie à Deux” isn’t as resoundingly awful as many reviewers have made it out to be in light of its artistic and aesthetic accomplishments, but that doesn’t mean this release is not without its share of problems, most notably in the dreadful writing and mishandled film editing. This is one of those pictures where you get to the end and are likely to heave a heavy “Ho hum, so what?” And that’s regrettable, given that the character and this picture’s predecessor both deserved better than what this follow-up has to offer. If you haven’t seen this yet, you might be better off sticking to the picture’s genuinely stellar trailer, as that’s ultimately much better than most of what’s found in this clunky 2:18:00 release.

biancarockr

Was this a Lady Gaga's special? What a joke.

Great title, great movie.

I had heard tiny bits about <em>'Joker: Folie à Deux'</em> falling below expectations since its release, though they weren't substantial enough to know if the film was any good or not. I have to say, I really enjoyed watching it all play out. It admittedly isn't on the same level as the phenomenal predecessor, but that's OK - I wasn't expecting it to be.

I will say that making this a musical of sorts was a bold choice, it wouldn't have been the direction that I would've went with it but to be honest I thought they executed it nicely. I presume that is one reason many didn't like this, as well as possibly the lack of craziness that seemed like it was on the horizon based on the 2019 flick. For me, mind, it all works.

Joaquin Phoenix is as excellent as anticipated in his reprisal as Joker, while Lady Gaga is a neat piece of casting for Lee - obviously her music chops for one, though I do enjoy her acting too. Lee perhaps could've been used more, but what we got is more than sufficient in my opinion. Brendan Gleeson, elsewhere, does well in a more minor role.

Is is slightly overlong? Possibly. Did we need a sequel? Probably not. All I can confirm is that I had a positive time viewing it, so I can't harbour any noteworthy complaints. It's a shame to now read that this film has seemingly bombed in more ways than one. C'est la vie.

Joker: Folie à Deux( 2024)

The world is a stage.

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A review by CinemaSerf

Written by CinemaSerf on Sat Oct 05 2024

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