Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)

That being said, the first movie has a virtue this does not. It felt like it was building towards something. This one never really seemed to feel like there was an end goal in mind, and the thing sort of petered out, leading to the underwhelming ending.

Were you pissed at that ending? It's a 70's movie. That's how they all end. Still, crappy, right?

I don't object to the musical elements. I don't even object to the R rating. I object to the fact that this movie cost 200 fucking million dollars to make. None of that pricetag is evident onscreen, and it clearly all went to bloated paychecks for the cast and director. I am upset because comic book movies, particularly DC ones, are already on the thinnest of ice with the public, and that specific dumb business decision hurt the entire genre, possibly longterm, possibly permanently. This same movie could have been made for 50 million with a different cast, and probably would have actually MADE money at the box office. Hollywood has a big fucking problem with budgets, and this mistake was so self-evident it's nuts the studio greenlit this and erased Batgirl.

Do you know the most messed up thing about that? Despite how obvious it was that something this expensive and Avant Garde was going to bomb, the studio STILL wound up blaming Lady Gaga for its failure. Isn't that infuriating that that is the studio's go-to for blame for their own crappy decisions? Lady Gaga is perfectly fine here. The movie had MUCH bigger problems, and none of its failures are due to her. It's an easy political climate to blame a woman for the obvious mistakes of the suits. That's all that is.

One of the reasons I hated the first movie was because it was a toxic celebration of vulgar white male victimhood. That! That!

Lady Gaga being fine is actually almost a victory. No actress (besides arguably Kaley Cuoco on the current animated show) since Arlene Sorkin has EVER done a decent Harley Quinn performance. All them except Cuoco (and now Gaga) sucked so bad because they were all painful and cringe IMITATIONS of Arlene Sorkin. Good for Gaga for doing her own thing here.

Quentin Tarantino and John Waters are big fans of the movie, and I get their rationale: It feels like it was actually made by the Joker. It's weird, and off-putting, and a box-office disaster that fucked over the studio. As far as Joker-related performance-art goes, the film is VERY authentic to that. And I get that perspective. But whether it's a good performance-art joke or not (and it might be) that specific thing does not automatically translate into it being a good MOVIE. It's all right. But while I can appreciate the unintentional (or possibly intentional) chaos this caused the studio, that doesn't make the film itself more than so-so. 2 1/2 stars.