The First Reviews for JOKER: FOLIE Á DEUX Are a Mixed Bag of Good and Bad

The first reviews have hit for director Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie À Deux and there’s a mixed bag of thoughts with some critics praising the film, while others being disappointed by it. A lot of critics think the film just doesn’t live up to the bar that was set by the first movie.

The movie is currently sitting at a 60% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It was a long shot that this movie would be as good and as successful as the first one. But, there are fans out there that will enjoy the movie. We’ll just have to watch it for ourselves to see what side of the fence we land on!

You can read excerpts from some of the reviews I’ve read below. Check ‘em out and let us know what you think!

FirstShowing.net: One thing that Joker: Folie à Deux really does get right is how this version of The Joker is not really a bad guy - he's a mirror for society.

Times: Phillips and co smashed back into the self-contained world, shook all the contents out on to the carpet and... had another go. The result? Messy, lifeless, derivative and exactly what you’d expect from a film that simply doesn’t want, or need, to exist.

Loud and Clear Reviews: Joker: Folie à Deux is absolutely not what you expect it to be, but that’s not a bad thing. [...] the story of a man who refuses to be anything but himself right till the very end, and that’s what makes this Joker sequel so deliciously subversive.

TheWrap: It’s a sad, pensive, and impressively odd motion picture that uses the theatricality of movie musicals to undermine its hero’s ambitions instead of elevating them.

Vanity Fair: It’s startlingly dull, a pointless procedural that seems to disdain its audience.

metro.co.uk: Folie à Deux achieves two remarkable things. It updates the movie musical, using the genre in an inspired way that shouldn’t frighten fans who don’t like them. It’s also that rare sequel that meets – if not surpasses – the quality of its predecessor.

indieWire: Folie à Deux simply tap dances in place for the majority of its listless runtime, stringing together a series of underwhelming musical numbers that are either too on the nose... or too vaguely related to its characters to express anything at all.

Screen Rant: It seems like Todd Philips targeted Folie à Deux directly at the audience who got a little too into Joker – and made it to antagonize them.

Time Out: We're left with the tragedy of a broken man in a world only interested in sensationalism. It's a big swing for all involved, but all the better for it.

Little White Lies: It begs the question, why is Phillips so reluctant to embrace that the film is a musical? Why not add a little more colour, some flourish to the production design?

Flicks: It is not that this version of the Joker is inherently wrong, but it is uninteresting. Please let us be done with this.

Slashfilm: It feels remarkably honest and true to itself, demonstrating again that taking such a popular character seriously is nothing to laugh at.

Radio Times: Phoenix is seamless, picking up this maudlin character again as if it were only yesterday. It's a truly versatile, malleable performance.

CinemaBlend: An overindulgent musical that lacks the punch of its predecessor.

Screen International: Where the original Joker remains a stunning exception — that rare blockbuster with emotional shading, grownup themes and a genuine sense of grandeur — this sequel fails to stay on the beat.

IONCINEMA.com: Scott Silver’s iffy bits of dialogue aren’t able to be masked by the strength of the cast this time around, especially with a returning lead who, when he isn’t caterwauling through endless musical numbers, appears to have slipped into eternal somnolence.

Hollywood Reporter: Gaga is a compelling live-wire presence, splitting the difference between affinity and obsession, while endearingly giving Arthur a shot... Their musical numbers, both duets and solos, have a vitality that the more often dour film desperately needs.

The Film Stage: It’s not that the film is so crazy that you have to see it (in fact, what’s crazy about it is that it isn’t); rather that few have ever had a platform like Philips and Joaquin Phoenix to fool with expectations of the masses so blatantly.

Daily Mail: The film is audaciously different in style from the original, not quite as electrifying, but bold and brilliant all the same.

London Evening Standard: Despite its fascinating and complex main character, the film is ultimately dull and plodding, taking us nowhere, slowly.

Financial Times: Joker still has a trick up its sleeve — even a serious subtext. The best moment comes late on in an incendiary scene...

Daily Telegraph: Folie à Deux can’t quite match its predecessor for dizzying impact. But it matches it for horrible tinderbox tension: it’s a film you feel might burst into flames at any given moment.

Collider: Phillips is just incapable of delivering the genre’s requisite razzle-dazzle that would surely complement Joker’s persona.

In the film, Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is institutionalized at Arkham awaiting trial for his crimes as Joker. While struggling with his dual identity, Arthur not only stumbles upon true love, but also finds the music that's always been inside him.

Arthur forms a strong relationship with Quinn (Lady Gaga) and together they embark on a journey filled with violence and music, because this movie is a musical.

The movie also stars Catherine Keener, Jacob Lofland, and Brendan Gleeson who will be playing undisclosed characters.

Joker: Folie á Deux is scheduled for release on October 4, 2024.