‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ disappoints on all fronts

Whether or not they may have been avid DC Comics fans, viewers largely expected “Joker: Folie à Deux” to be chaotic, dysfunctional and endlessly entertaining. Yet, the film doesn’t live up to the legacies of the characters Joker and Harley Quinn — there is no delusion, almost no chaos and ultimately, no Joker that audiences love and anticipate. 

Todd Phillips’s sequel to his 2019 film “Joker” follows Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), the Joker, and Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga), Harley Quinn, during their time in Arkham State Hospital and throughout Fleck’s murder trial. Phillips does a decent job setting the grim, depressing scene: The hospital guards are expectedly abusive and manipulative, treating Fleck like a dog who receives a cigarette “treat” every time he does a trick. 

Much like its prequel, the film’s atmosphere is dark and gray. The weather is constantly rainy, emphasizing Fleck’s inner emotional turmoil and alleged mental illness. Fleck, accused of five murders, is eventually deemed a model prisoner and is granted permission to attend classes in the minimum security ward where he meets Quinzel. Up to this point, the film alludes to chaos — promising action, murder and revenge through its premise — and yet never materializes it, proceeding into a musical.

The choice to turn the Joker and Harley Quinn’s story into a musical garnered mixed responses upon its announcement. Any excitement surrounding the musical elements of “Joker: Folie à Deux” was extinguished after viewing them in action. Although Gaga’s previous musical performance in “A Star is Born” earned her dozens of awards nominations, Todd Phillips’s direction somehow overlooks her talents. Over the film’s nearly two-and-a-half-hour runtime, Gaga’s powerful vocals are only featured in two or three songs. For most of the film, Gaga sings in an uncharacteristically forced, raspy and slightly off-pitch voice, making one wonder whether audiences should pretend that Harley Quinn is not played by the Lady Gaga they know and love.

These musical sequences are meant to be the crux of Fleck and Quinzel’s relationship — vehicles for their developing feelings and changing emotions. But the soundtrack, combined with its lackluster and sluggish plot, does little to develop the characters besides Fleck’s psyche. Mixed into the film’s central narrative are pieces of Fleck’s imagination, including animated clips of him battling his shadow and visions of him and Quinzel on television. In these hallucinations, the music is closer to that of a traditional musical, featuring accompanying instrumentals and half-baked choreography. In the rare moments when Gaga’s talents are allowed to shine, Phoenix just can’t keep up.

Phoenix’s performance detracts from the Joker’s iconic essence, even in comparison to his own performance in the previous adaptation. In the 2019 “Joker,” Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck is a troubled, angry man with a disturbing and untimely laugh caused by a neurological disorder. He is the victim of constant abuse, assault and deceit. In his first rendition, Phoenix performs with ease and finesse, capturing the nuances of Fleck’s deep-rooted insecurities and trauma. But, in “Joker: Folie à Deux,” Phoenix turns Fleck into a passive observer, staring into the distance and shallowly delivering his lines. 

Admittedly, Phoenix is good at playing a lovestruck fool — his googly eyes and dumbfounded attitude are an excellent foil to Gaga’s strong and sharp acting style. Apart from his dynamic with Quinzel, though, Fleck has lost the chaos and incessant drive that defines the Joker. If Fleck was the sole focus of the film, it may have been possible to overlook this fact. But in “Joker: Folie à Deux,” a film with an abundance of other eccentric characters, Fleck is no longer the famed Joker but just another prisoner who viewers can only feel bad for.