Joaquin Phoenix returns to his Oscar-winning role in Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux, a somewhat unnecessary sequel to 2019’s Joker. There is a lot to admire in this inventive film and a few moments to love. Phillips and co-screenwriter Scott Silver have let loose with big ideas and a creative slant that occasionally works quite well. Unfortunately, the film cannot sustain a lasting interest level and becomes maddeningly uneven, with a final act that should divide audiences right down the middle. 

Phillips and Silver get kudos for crafting their picture into a macabre musical of psychotic delusions. As achieved in the first film, there is a perverse delight to watching Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck break from reality and the first hour of this film is quite interesting and inventive. Eventually, the whole project begins to smell of contractual obligation rather than a director’s continuing vision for a character he so skillfully redefined. It is a shame how director Phillips’ safe direction becomes too self-serious, causing Joker: Folie à Deux to lose what little bite it has. 

While Joaquin Phoenix is still marvelous to watch. For the sequel, the actor is allowed even more creative intensity as the screenplay molds him into a more fully realized Joker in the film’s third act. In an extended courtroom sequence, we watch Fleck begin to disappear while Joker threatens to completely take over the madman’s psyche. The promise in Phoenix’s performance and in what Phillips and Silver do with these moments will delight fans and ready all viewers for the Joker to rise. For reasons that cannot be stated here, it all becomes a cinematic parlor trick where viewers will find the rug pulled out from under them. By the time the credits roll, it feels as if Todd Phillips didn’t care enough to pay off. The film’s two-plus hour running time teases and taunts, but there is no rabbit in the hat, as the frustratingly obtuse Joker: Folie à Deux finishes with an empty black hole. 

After opening with the film’s only moment of genius (a Warner Brothers cartoon summary of the events from the first film from The Triplets of Belleville director Sylvain Chomet), Folie à Deux finds Arthur Fleck floating through his miserable existence as a resident of Arkham Asylum. Arthur is awaiting trial for his murderous crimes, where the great Catherine Keener is wasted as his attorney. Assistant District Attorney Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey) is heading the prosecution and pushing for the death penalty.    

The inclusion of Harvey Dent is another sleight-of-hand. Students of Batman lore know Dent’s eventual path to becoming the villainous Two-Face. The character’s introduction is sure to cause fans to salivate at the possibilities. Again, Phillips proves himself to be a trickster and does nothing interesting with Dent other than to say, “Look everyone! Here he is!” When Harvey Dent arrives, all who have high hopes should keep them low. Buyer beware, as his presence is as useless as the inclusion of a young Bruce Wayne in the first film.

For ridiculous reasons, Arthur is put into a music therapy group by one of the main guards (the always reliable Brendan Gleeson). It is here where he meets Lee (Lady Gaga), a fellow inmate who grabs his attention and his heart by singing Judy Garland’s “Get Happy”, and by being a big fan. The two broken personalities bond over their abusive childhoods and their sadistic urges to watch society burn. It is after they meet where Joker: Folie à Deux dives headfirst into its musical aspirations. Almost every waking moment of Arthur’s life in Arkham is filled with grandiose flights of music-colored fantasies. The film inserts inventive musical performances where Arthur and Lee sing and dance in the style of Old Hollywood musicals. The two best sequences are a full-on Gospel number (complete with a chorus and a tap-dancing Joker) and a clever homage to “The Sonny and Cher Show”. A few musical interludes are superfluous, but most of them are well-designed fun.

As Lee, Lady Gaga adds a subtle power to her underwritten role. While Gaga and Phoenix find fire in their chemistry, the screenplay gives Lee nothing to do, beyond being a fangirl who has her own twisted intentions for Gotham City. As an actress, Lady Gaga continues to prove her mettle, showing a deep focus in every performance. The singer gets to show her skills in song as well, but her character draws the short straw in development. It is no secret that Lee is becoming Batman villain, Harley Quinn. Beyond the perceived cool of having the Oscar-winner take on such a beloved baddie, the film can’t seem to flesh her out into anything interesting. It is to Lady Gaga’s credit that she carves out a memorable performance.

As the film goes on, Arthur’s back and forth from Arkham to the courtroom, from reality to fantasy becomes tiresome. Phillip’s vision seems unfocused this time out, while Jeff Groth’s fractured structure does him no favors. What is real and what is imagined become purposely blurred, but where this technique had a point in Joker, it is handled too sloppily in Folie à Deux. The madness overtakes the method both on screen and behind the scenes.

Todd Phillips certainly has ideas and throws them all into his unfocused film, but never commits to any of them. His musical aspirations come and go while a long stretch of the film becomes a courtroom drama. It is fun to watch Joaquin Phoenix in these scenes, as he plays with accents and brings his Joker to almost-full fruition.The issue is that director Phillips doesn’t know when to quit, as the courtroom scenes outstay their welcome. The back and forth of Arthur in and out of court, in and out of Arkham, and in and out of reality grow tiresome, while Phillips fails to walk a focused line. If Joker and Harley are not singing and dancing, the film loses its energy.

Joker: Folie à Deux is a film that plays it safe. Todd Phillips is afraid to reach for the viciousness found in his first foray into the world of the Joker. Now and again, the film finds an inventive spark, but there is no danger. Arthur and Lee may be unhinged maniacs ready to burn it all down, but Phillips and Silver’s script has no backbone. The film, the performances, and the audience suffer. 

Joker: Folie à Deux

Written by Scott Silver & Todd Phillips

Directed by Todd Phillips

Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Catherine Keener, Brendan Gleeson, Harry Lawtey, Steve Coogan

R, 138 Mintes, Warner Brothers Pictures, DC Entertainment