When Todd Phillips announced that he intended to make a film based on the classic DC supervillain The Joker, there was a collective sense of skepticism and sincere incredulity towards a filmmaker known more for irreverent, broad comedies that usually aimed for the low-hanging fruit and developed a reputation for their simplicity. He was the last person we would expect to direct a grimy, intense origin story of arguably the most famous antagonist in the history of comic books, but yet he nonetheless created something at least marginally intriguing with Joker, a divisive film but one that did contain enough ambition to be considered at least somewhat worthwhile. For some reason, he chose to rest on his laurels by returning to this subject, delivered in the form of Joker: Folie à Deux, a sequel set only a few years after the events of the previous film, following Arthur Fleck as he prepares to go on trial for the murders he committed in the first instalment, which involves becoming a public figure (with masses of adoring fans who are hopelessly devoted to his alter ego of “The Joker”, who they view as a counterculture icon worthy of their admiration and obsession), as well as discovering love in the form of a budding romance with a fellow patient at the hospital, who proves to be the only person who fully understands him, despite not being entirely who she claims to be at the outset. We follow Arthur as he navigates the legal system, which proves to be even more difficult when he is the centerpiece of a media circus and begins to sink even further into psychopathy as he grows more intensely protective of his image and how it is delivered to the fawning public, who engage in a form of frenzied love for someone who they view as a voice of their generation. The idea to revisit this character is in itself somewhat puzzling. The final result of Joker: Folie à Deux sends a clear message that perhaps Phillips and his cohorts should have thought again before attempting to recapture the impact of the first film, since this one pales in comparison in just about every area, despite its efforts to do something radically different, proving the age-old adage that some works should remain untouched, since attempting to rekindle a spark can sometimes cause chaos, and not the kind that this film thrives on exploring.

There are countless moments scattered throughout Joker: Folie à Deux that are beyond bewildering, and this tends to be a film that is misshapen from its earliest moments, falling apart at the seams before it even truly finds its groove. It starts with a fantastic animated short by Sylvain Chomet, which is a genuinely original and daring subversion of popular tropes. This is not only the first moment of the film, but also the one that feels like it had the most to say, despite being followed by nearly 140 minutes of forcible lecturing from a director who has not yet earned the honour of being viewed as a social critic, despite the success of the previous film that seems to have given everyone involved the inflated ego to genuinely and wholeheartedly believe that they could recapture the spirit of the original. The hook of Joker: Folie à Deux is that it not only serves as the second part of the titular character’s story, this time looking at it from the perspective of a man who has to reckon with the consequences of his actions, but to do it as a musical. In his refusal to deny essentially parroting the work of Martin Scorsese (as well as other luminaries of the industry), Phillips cobbles together a strange version of New York, New York and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, taking multiple visual and thematic cues from these films and warping them to fit his vision, which produces a truly ill-conceived film that is so focused on being serious and provocative, it actually has the opposite effect. Much like Joker, this film is built on the premise of using violence as a means towards some kind of social commentary, as if any one of us needed a reminder that society can cause individuals to spiral into obsession and sociopathic activity. Here, the story is about a criminal who is not only mistreated by those in positions of authority but let down by the justice system designed to give everyone a fair trial. It desperately attempts to be a nuanced blend of genres and conventions, but it never lands as anything even marginally convincing, especially since it was promoted as some massively audacious work when in reality it is about as shallow as a sidewalk puddle.

The casting of Joaquin Phoenix in Joker was seen as something of an artistic coup since he was known as an extremely serious actor who focused on choosing projects that challenged him, and a supervillain origin story directed by someone best known for irreverent broad comedies seemed like a peculiar choice. Nonetheless, he delivered a performance that surprised many viewers and contained some moments of incredible ingenuity from the actor, who maintained his fierce commitment to bringing his character to life with nuance and vigour. All of that goodwill that he massed at the time is almost single-handedly diminished with Joker: Folie à Deux, a film that simply does not know how to use Phoenix, and instead forces him to mumble and cackle through an overlong chore of a film that has very little interest in developing him as a character. Phoenix has been steadfast in his refusal to reprise roles and even turned down major franchise work based on his desire to avoid being forced to play the same character for years. Whether it is because he feels obligated to those who facilitated his wealth of accolades resulting from the first film, or simply because he loves the character, we may not ever understand exactly what it is that drew Phoenix to reprise the role, but he is certainly not good outside of a few rare moments where his attention to the physicality of the character is at its boldest. He’s joined by Lady Gaga in one of the most grotesque pieces of stunt casting in years – she has proven herself to be a solid actor with great work in A Star Is Born, as well as the very entertaining House of Gucci, but here she is not only wasted (appearing in only a small portion of the film, despite it being promoted as a two-hander) but is actively bad in nearly every moment she has on screen, playing a thinly-constructed archetype in a film that is defined by its weak development of characters. Oddly enough, its the supporting cast that is the most impactful – Catherine Keener as the titular character’s long-suffering but genuinely caring attorney (and maybe the only person who truly cares for Arthur) and Brendan Gleeson as a grinning security guard who knows he is in control, are both far and away the best parts of the film, so it only makes sense that they’re underused in favour of giving Phoenix and Lady Gaga the chance to run rampant throughout this film.

Whatever message this film was aiming to convey is lost in the shuffle, since there isn’t anything particularly daring about what it is trying to say, and while this character was never designed to be the most complex of antagonists, at least previous endeavours to explore his backstory have brought on entertaining results, which can’t quite be said in this case. The first film was relatively successful as an experiment, and it proved to have positive results, even if the overall product was quite polarizing, which seems to be entirely by design. Following that up was always going to be a challenge since it was akin to attempting to catch lightning in a bottle for a second time, which was feasibly impossible. There are more shortcomings in Joker: Folie à Deux than there are merits – it is a well-made film, with some strong cinematography, particularly in the bigger musical sequences, which makes it clear that Phillips is not entirely untalented as a visual stylist – and those moments are also the ones in which it feels like this film has something to say. However, as fate would have it, they occupy such a small space in the narrative, essentially being brief interludes into the deluded mind of the protagonist as he descends even deeper into the madness he wishes to conceal, and instead, the focus is on the drab, dull legal proceedings and romantic sub-plot, neither of which are even successful at the most fundamental level. Phillips is just not a strong storyteller, and choosing to rework this narrative to be some over-the-top spectacle fails almost immediately – even those of us with a penchant for the absurd and peculiar will be left entirely disappointed by this film, primarily because of how Phillips seems incapable of holding our attention. It attempts to be so offbeat and daring that it circles back to being profoundly traditional, following a very commonplace legal procedural drama (right down to each predictable beat), thinking that punctuating these moments with lavish musical numbers will give off the illusion of artistic audacity, This could not be further from what we received, with the final product being a mangled, uncomfortable attempt at crossing between genres, never quite accomplishing anything of value with the already obvious message that defines the story.

The challenge with talking about a film like Joker: Folie à Deux is that neither the phrase “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, nor the principle that taking a different approach is a good way to make a sequel is applicable since this is a singularly unnecessary work that proves the weakness of both the original material and Phillips as a filmmaker, with his inability to craft a compelling follow-up to what is probably going to remain his most successful film being the primary reason this film falls apart from the start. Formally and theoretically, this film veers towards failure more frequently than it demonstrates any ironclad ambition beyond a few solid moments that feel like outliers in an otherwise unconvincing film. Ultimately, Joker: Folie à Deux is a film that spends far too much time saying absolutely nothing – it wants to believe that it’s a complex character study that touches on themes of toxic co-dependency, mental health and the nature of society’s obsession with people who provide them with entertainment, even if it is at the expense of human life. All of these ideas are strong, but they’re misplaced in a film that prioritizes spectacle over substance and believes the audience is too myopic to notice the clear weaknesses that exist at the centre of the narrative, and how there is never anything particularly meaningful said throughout the entire 140 minute running time, other that reiterating the same tired ideas that Phillips and his collaborators did far more effectively years ago, and which only exist here as an attempt to reignite the same ambitious ideas, just without even an iota of the complexity or social commentary. It’s a weak film that does very little to convince us that it needed to be made, or that this was anything close to being the best use of the time of both the actors (who range from woefully miscast to tragically under-used) and the audience, who are placed in this position of frustration and confusion as we witness what we are led to believe is some subversive, genre-bending extravaganza, but instead devolves into something that pushes boundaries that do not exist and simply squander any potential it had to leave any real impression. Hollow and superficial to the point of being almost insulting, Joker: Folie à Deux is a series of missed opportunities and heavy-handed moments that lead to a lacklustre conclusion that says nothing valuable and proves to be more unpleasant than provocative, being littered with off-key renditions of jazz standards and moments of bewildering violence that contribute nothing to an already oversaturated conversation.