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Review: ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ Puts its Audience on Trial
Todd Phillips’ massively awaited sequel was a huge flop… for the right reasons?
Joker: Folie à Deux is a fascinating film, and it was intriguing before it even came out. The reputation that the first film amassed between its 2019 release — when it was surprisingly acclaimed by most despite its complete reliance on Martin Scorsese’s two films Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy and when it was deemed a film so emotionally powerful that riots and in-screening violence were deemed likely — has been equally interesting to witness. The first film is one I move back and forth on with most viewings, but my last few watches have cemented it as a film that is entertaining but deeply, deeply flawed — I think its celebration of the Joker’s actions is very poorly placed (even if intended to be somewhat ironic, perhaps as a jab at the society which creates this version of the Joker more so than a view of him as a positive influence) and a lot of its filmmaking sloppy and immature. And, of course, Todd Phillips’ career is a weird one too, one which saw him begin with a documentary on the extremely edgy musician GG Allin before moving into a series of frat-boy style vulgar comedies (including Starsky & Hutch, The Hangover trilogy and Road Trip) before suddenly seeming to fall into the over-serious drama of the…