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I feel like the punching bag at the Last Movie Outpost. Guess who had to review Joker: Folie a Deux? Yes, muggings here. Although, the guys promised me a date with Jessica Chastain if I did it, so here goes.
You know the details of Joker 2, it stars Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Zazie Beeta, Steve Coogan, Harry Lawtey and Leigh Gill. Todd Phillips is back as writer and director, with Scott Silver writing the screenplay. Both did the first Joke movie.
The Story
(sigh) Where to start? The official blurb is:
Struggling with his dual identity, failed comedian Arthur Fleck meets the love of his life, Harley Quinn, while incarcerated at Arkham State Hospital.
Arthur (Phoenix) was arrested at the end of the first one and is now in Arkham. He’s got people that like him and people that hate him. The guards pick on him and he’s a shell of his former self, the Joker.
He’s going to go to court to try and prove that Arthur and Joker are two different people. It was Joker that killed everyone, not Arthur. This takes place with everyone in the courtroom, re-living the events from the first movie.
That’s about it, it’s a recap, but instead of ‘Jekyll turning into Hyde’, it’s about Hyde turning back into Jekyll. This undoes the character arc of the first movie. And it’s all set to music.
The Music
I don’t call Joker 2 a musical, it’s more like a karaoke. Yes, songs are sung, but it’s not like Gease, where everyone can hear the ‘behind-the-scenes’ music. One or two of the characters sing and people can join in, if they like. Arthur sings a couple of songs in the asylum and everyone just kind of watches, like all the other madmen watching a nut being a nut.
There are other musical numbers, which are more like set pieces from Singin’ in the Rain, but I think these mostly take place in Arthur’s imagination. He’s probably singing to himself and thinking he’s on a set with a beautiful woman or, at least, Lady Gaga.
Speaking of her, the only reason they cast her is because of her voice. I’m not a huge fan, but the girl can sing. What skills she has in singing, she lacks in acting. Not being a fan of her, I find it hard to take her seriously and rate her acting. I think she thinks that if you hang around people who can act, you look good.
This is not the case, it actually makes you look worse. It’s like she’s after an O from EGOT and trying way to hard to get one.
It’s Trolling Time
We asked the other day what was Phillips up to with this movie. At the time, I hadn’t seen it, but now I have. I now think that this entire movie is a troll. Let’s talk about movie trolling for a moment.
One of the greatest movie trolls of all time was Gremlins 2. They were going to make Gremlins 2 no matter what, so Joe Dante, the original director, thought he would get the paycheque and make it himself. There was very little story, and crazy ideas, but Dante didn’t care, he got paid.
Another example is And Now for Something Completely Different. The Monty Python guys took a load of money and just reshot some of their most famous sketches. Airplane 2 was pretty much Airplane, but in outer space. Many of the same jokes, but everyone got a pay cheque.
The success of Joker meant another one was on the cards, no matter what. I think Phillips thought he would do it, make it as crazy as possible, convince the actors and everyone gets a cheque.
High Art?
I read the other day that Quentin Tarantino loved Joker 2. In an interview, he said:
“And I’m just nihilistic enough to kind of enjoy a movie that doesn’t quite work as a movie or that’s like a big, giant mess to some degree. And I didn’t find it an intellectual exercise. I really got caught up into it. I really liked the musical sequences. I got really caught up. I thought the more banal the songs were, the better they were. I find myself listening to the lyrics of ‘For Once in My Life’ in a way I never have before.”
To me, he’s saying how much cleverer and intellectual he is and everyone who doesn’t the movie isn’t intelligent enough to understand it. I must be in that ‘thick’ camp because I didn’t see it as high art, it was a troll by the director and cast.
Overall
I was a big fan of the original movie. I liked how it didn’t really fit into the DCU, but it was well-made. Slowly watching Arthur, descend into madness, was great. Was it a little highbrow and pretentious? Yes, a little, but it did make a good movie.
Joker 2 undoes everything the first movie did. If you liked the original, don’t watch this one, it will annoy you, it did me. It’s an interesting movie, but just doesn’t work. I’m giving it a low score, I did like the musical numbers, and I’m a fan of a good musical.
Joker 2 is a movie I will never watch again though. It’s now on streaming.
Now to get ready with my date with Jesicca, the guys told me she’ll be here any minute now.
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