The Stream: Too much singing for far too long!

The Big Screen: It still looks like a well-made movie even if the story doesn’t make sense.

The Final Bill: A musical that doesn’t really have a story and adds nothing to the Joker canon.

– S2S:Movie Review
Director: Todd Phillips
Writers: Scott Silver, Todd Phillips, Bob Kane
Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Zazie Beetz, Lady Gaga
Genre: Crime, Drama, Musical, Thriller
Rating: R (Language, violence)
Runtime: 2 hours 8 minutes
Production Companies: DC Entertainment, Joint Effort, Village Roadshow Pictures
Platform: Released in theaters October 4, 2024
Notable Trailers: A Complete Unknown, Venom: The Last Dance, Red One, Nosferatu, Companion

Welcome back, Streamers! In theaters this weekend, the long-awaited sequel to Joker, Joker: Folie à Deux was released. This movie finds us following Arthur Fleck again. Now, Arthur is institutionalized at Arkham, awaiting trial for his crimes as Joker. While in captivity, Arthur not only stumbles upon true love with the mischievous Lee (Lady Gaga), but also finds the music that’s always been inside him. Joker lunacy ensues.

I’m not going to bury the lede on this one. This movie is nearly 50% musical. I think this is a very important fact to know going into this movie. If you don’t like musicals, I don’t know how you won’t be annoyed by the fact that every other scene singing. What’s maybe more annoying about the musical aspect is that the songs don’t further the story, and there is no discernable reason for this movie to be a musical. Each musical sequences seems to drop into the movie as a delay tactic and stops the momentum of the movie dead in its tracks. The song choices aren’t even interesting. Why this movie is a musical is very frustrating and confusing.

Additionally, I’d say this sequel could have been 20-30 minutes tacked on to the end of Joker. Joker: Folie à Deux doesn’t add new or interesting to the Joker lore. Much of this movie feels like spinning wheels until something big happens. The story is very weak and attempts to have the musical number and Lady Gaga boost it, but it doesn’t work. Much of it is listless and boring.

Now for the very limited “good” of the movie: Look it’s Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix. Joaquin Phoenix is a great actor who goes to the nth degree in portraying his characters. He brings the same fervor and commitment to Arthur as he did in the first movie. Unfortunately, Joaquin Phoenix is not a good singer and the pairing with Gaga only emphasizes it. It almost would have been better if both characters sang poorly. Lady Gaga has a strong screen presence. She goes for it in her role, which is pretty limited itself. She’s a great singer, so there’s that.

Long, long story short, Joker: Folie à Deux is a super long musical that lost the charm of the first movie. Phoenix and Gaga do a pretty all-around good job but even they can’t save this pointlessly long movie. There’s no reason to run to the theater for this movie and watch at your own risk on on any streaming service with a single popped kernel.