Joker: Folie a Deuxis finally finding an audience following its debut onMaxon Friday. The incredibly divisive sequel starringJoaquin Phoenixand Lady Gaga turned out to beone of the biggest disappointments of the yearfor many moviegoers, with the musical take on the DC villain being slammed by both critics and audiences on its theatrical release in October.
While successful movies such asDeadpool & Wolverinetook around four months to find a home on streaming, theJokersequel has arrived on Max, and HBO, after just two months. Warner Bros. Discovery clearly hopes that dropping the film on streaming in the run-up to the Christmas period will see many people checking it out as an alternative to the glut of festive movies dominating streaming.
For now, and as a given, the strategy seems to have paid off, asJoker: Folie à Deuxhas reversed its theatrical bashing and jumped aboveBeetlejuice Beetlejuiceto take the top spot on HBO’s chart. How long it stays there is yet to be seen, but afterthe film’s terrible box office performancethere will probably be a lot of people curious to see whether the hate the movie received was justified.
‘Joker 2’ Continues to Confound and Annoy on Streaming
It is clear from thenew reviews on Rotten Tomatoes– where the film continues to hold a lowly 32% audience score – that those just discoveringJoker: Folie à Deuxfor the first time as just as unhappy with Todd Phillips’ sequel as those who saw it in theaters…unless you love musicals in all their forms. As one reviewer fumed:
“What a horrible movie! I’ll never get those two hours back of my life…. He never even killed one person AND REALLY! “THERE IS NO JOKER” ARE YOU FCKING KIDDING ME… THE MOVIE IS ABOUT JOKER. Whoever made this movie is a fcking joke.”
And that is one of the more contained reviews. Of course, it is very much a case of different strokes for different folks, and some people are happy with the way the sequel played out. For many new viewers, though, they are just glad they didn’t bother paying for the privilege of seeing the movie in theaters.
“Todd Phillips, the director of this crap show should never direct again. How do you ruin “The Joker”. Lady Gaga was downright irritating, and an she is an atrocious actress. Trying to turn “The Joker” into a two bit musical was a terrible choice by the director. It’s like they were trying to irritate the audience. Hey, at least I didn’t pay to see this in the theater, and could skip the ridiculously bad singing. Folly Le Pew!”
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The legendary director was one of the rare public defenders of the ‘Joker’ sequel.
After the release ofJokerin 2019, Phillips was asked on multiple occasions about when a sequel would be released. At the time, he was pretty set on the idea of Joaquin Phoenix’s stellar and subversive turn as “Joker” being a one-and-done story. Perhaps if Warner Bros. Discovery had been happy to accept that, then Joker’s reputation could have avoided being turned into the butt of the joke with this year’s badly received sequel.
Joker: Folie a Deux
Joker: Folie à Deux is the sequel to Todd Phillips' critically acclaimed comic book thriller Joker. Reprising his Academy Award-winning performance as the failed comedian Arthur Fleck, Joaquin Phoenix revisits the iconic DC character alongside Lady Gaga, who makes her debut as Joker’s lover Harley Quinn in this standalone continuity of the DC Universe.
