Skip to main content

Here’s what critics are saying about ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’

The sequel is getting a more mixed response thank its predecessor.

By Joe Allen Sep 4, 2024 2:05 PM

Joker: Folie a Deux first look — Warner Bros. Pictures

The review embargo for Joker: Folie a Deux has lifted following the film’s premiere at the Venice Film Festival, which means we finally know what critics think about the sequel to the 2019 smash hit. The reviews are largely positive, but some suggest that the movie might not be quite as compelling as the first installment, and that it doesn’t have the same electrifying spine as its predecessor.

IGN gave the movie a 5/10 and wrote, “Despite the best efforts of Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, and an opening hour set in Arkham Asylum, Joker: Folie à Deux wastes its potential as a movie musical, a courtroom drama, and a sequel that has anything meaningful to say about or add to the first Joker.”

Recommended Videos

Indiewire, meanwhile, gave the movie a C-, writing “Needless to say, Folie à Deux does not give the people what they want. On the contrary, it actively courts the disappointment of its own fandom in order to articulate how cruelly Arthur is co-opted by the fantasies of the collective unconscious — lost in a dream that his followers want to have for themselves.”

Empire‘s review was more positive, giving it four stars, and described the movie by saying “As sweet and beguiling a musical romance as it’s possible to have between two murderous psychopaths. Its kooky approach won’t suit all stripes of comic-book fan, but it finds a strange, tragic hopefulness all of its own.”

The Wrap meanwhile, said that the Joker sequel was “the most interesting film about Arthur Fleck. It’s genuinely a little daring, genuinely a little challenging, and genuinely a little genuine.”

The Hollywood Reporter, on the other hand, didn’t much care for it. “For a movie running two-and-a-quarter hours, Folie à Deux feels narratively a little thin and at times dull,” they wrote.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the critical response to Folie à Deux is as divided as the first movie’s response was. The movie received plenty of awards acclaim in spite of that mixed reception, but it’s inclear whether this sequel will have the same kind of legacy with either audiences or critics.

Joe Allen is a freelance writer at Digital Trends, where he covers Movies and TV. He frequently writes streaming… Read Full Bio

We’re only a few months away from our new Bond, Producer Amy Pascal teases

Clothing, Shirt, Adult

Since Daniel Craig bit the big one in his James Bond swan song in 2021’s No Time to Die, fans have been waiting to find out who the next person to drink the martini shaken instead of stirred will be. In true Bond fandom fashion, a whole slew of fancasts have started to muddle the waters as to who could possibly be the new 007. Callum Turner, Jacob Elordi, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and more have all been pitched as possible replacements. Some more ethnically diverse options like Henry Golding and Rene Jean-Page have also emerged. But, alas, no word has come down from on high to give us the scratch to this fan itch raging on for the last five years. That is, until Producer Amy Pascal sat down during her Spider-Man: Brand New Day press tour and gave a bit of insight on when we can expect an announcement, and also what we can expect in the cast.

I would say the end of the year is a good bet. We are being really, really methodical. – Amy Pascal

Elevate your elegance: Choosing your first cigar

Face, Head, Person

Earlier this year, I was strolling the streets of New York and ended up sitting in the Carnegie Club with an Old Fashioned in one hand and a cigar in the other while My Way by Frank Sinatra played from a speaker flanking leather-bound books behind the couch I had been using as my perch. It was my first cigar, but it led to a slight obsession that recently found me on the back deck of a lodge in Kenya, staring at Mount Kilimanjaro and smoking a stick while giraffes meandered by. Admittedly, there has been no intention in my budding hobby; I am aimlessly choosing the cigars that look good (the ones that look like those smoked by Arnold or Stallone in the movies, obviously). But I have decided to approach these in a new way, with a little help from my friends over at La Aurora, who graciously decided to navigate my ignorance with some info compiled by Brand Manager John Gaglio, with input from Master Blender Manuel Ynoa, CEO Ed McKenna, and Brand Manager Elvis Batista.

What to look for in your first cigar

FIFA’s Gianni Infantino Is Uglifying the Beautiful Game With $20 Billion Plot — But the Global Soccer Community’s Punching Back

People, Person, Crowd

For the better part of two decades, perhaps even more, corruption has allegedly run rampant within FIFA. Sepp Blatter, in particular, became the face of alleged extortion schemes, and he operated with impunity while at the helm of the organization for 17 years, from 1998 until his forced resignation in 2015 amid an FBI corruption probe. He’s banned for life from all football-related FIFA activities. If you’re new to the organization’s alleged deep connection to corruption, Netflix offers a brilliant 2022 documentary, FIFA Uncovered. In that documentary, Gianni Infantino appears in his previous capacity as Secretary General of UEFA (2009-2016) and later as the newly elected FIFA president, who vowed to root out corruption and hand the beautiful game back to the people where it belongs.

That, as it turns out, was all wishful thinking.