--- title: "Joker: Folie à Deux" year: 2024 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/joker-folie-a-deux" fi1m_id: "joker-folie-a-deux" imdb_id: "tt11315808" tmdb_id: 889737 wikidata_id: "Q108628759" fi1m_score: 54 critics_score: 56 critics_reviews: 14 published: "2026-09-12" updated: "2026-09-18T08:37:58.125311+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Joker: Folie à Deux (2024) Directed by Todd Phillips · 2h 18m · MPA R · Drama, Crime, Thriller ## Identity Joker: Folie à Deux - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/joker-folie-a-deux - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** joker-folie-a-deux - **IMDb ID:** tt11315808 - **TMDB ID:** 889737 - **Wikidata ID:** Q108628759 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11315808/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/889737, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q108628759 **Fi1m score: 54** · Critics 56 from 14 reviews *In a sentence:* Two hours of a man on trial who keeps drifting off to sing, and after an hour so did we > Todd Phillips’s sequel has one honest idea, that Arthur Fleck was never the man his fans wanted him to be, and spends 138 minutes and a dozen borrowed songs saying it. Phoenix and Gaga are worth watching; the courtroom is not. ## Synopsis Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is a patient at Arkham State Hospital, thin, medicated and mostly silent, waiting for the trial that will decide whether the state can execute him for the murders that made him famous. His lawyer, Maryanne Stewart (Catherine Keener), wants a jury to believe that the Joker is a second personality and Arthur its victim; the prosecutor, Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey), does not. In a music therapy class Arthur meets Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga), a patient who knows exactly who he is and likes him for it. Brendan Gleeson is the guard who runs his wing. When Arthur is happy, or frightened, the film stops and he sings. ## Review Todd Phillips has made a sequel designed to disappoint the people who liked the first film, and he has done it on purpose. [*Joker*](https://film.one/film/joker) (2019) left Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck dancing down a flight of steps in a red suit while a city rioted in his name. *Joker: Folie à Deux* finds him some time later in Arkham, thin, drugged and queueing for his pills, waiting for the trial that will decide whether the state can kill him. It is a prison film, then a courtroom drama, and throughout it is a musical made from old standards. We have some respect for that. We spent a good deal of the 138 minutes wishing the film would do something with it. Phoenix is as committed as before and plays Arthur here as a man who has been switched off. The laugh is mostly gone; what is left is a wet-eyed stillness that comes alive only when Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga) looks at him. He sings the way Arthur would sing, cracked, slightly under the note, out of breath, and the film never lets him get better at it. That is the idea, and it is a good one. Gaga plays Lee small and watchful, a patient who knows exactly who Arthur is and likes him for it, and she sings under her ability almost throughout. The music therapy scenes moved us more than we expected. A dozen patients, an upright piano, Arthur mumbling a lyric and Lee singing back at him from the other side of the circle, and Phoenix lets a little of the old wish, to be looked at kindly, back into his face. Brendan Gleeson runs the wing as Jackie Sullivan, all jokes and shoulder-claps, and we can see how quickly the jokes could turn. It is the only stretch of the film in which the singing means something to the people doing it. Lawrence Sher lights Arkham in green fluorescent and sodium orange, wire cages and wet tile, and shoots the fantasy numbers in the saturated red and gold of a variety programme, a curtain and one spotlight, so the switch between the two is never in doubt. Mark Friedberg’s hospital is a long grey box with the paint coming away; his courtroom is dark panelled wood with a public gallery built like a theatre balcony, in case anyone missed the tagline. Arianne Phillips keeps the red suit for the daydreams and dresses the real Arthur in institutional grey that hangs off him. Hildur Guðnadóttir’s cello returns, low and mournful, and now has to share the film with a dozen show tunes. The two never agree, and we decided that was deliberate and still did not enjoy it. The trial takes up most of the second half and it is where the film goes flat. Catherine Keener’s Maryanne Stewart argues that the Joker is a second personality and Arthur his victim; Harry Lawtey’s Harvey Dent argues that he is not. Witnesses from the first film, Zazie Beetz’s Sophie Dumond and Leigh Gill’s Gary Puddles, come back to tell us things we watched happen. Jeff Groth cuts these scenes at the pace of an actual trial, long two-shots, nobody hurrying, and they sit there. Steve Coogan turns up as Paddy Meyers and gets the one funny scene. By the middle of the trial we had stopped following the argument and started checking the time, and the film, which is about people wanting the wrong things from Arthur, would presumably say that was our fault. We do not accept that. The songs stop the story rather than carry it. Two or three of them, staged as a television special with the pair in matching suits, come alive; the rest arrive, make the same point about fantasy and retreat, and fade back into the grey. Lee is the larger loss. The script by Phillips and Scott Silver gives her wants but almost no history, and Gaga, who could fill the courtroom on her own, is kept in the gallery. The first *Joker* borrowed its lonely man and his talk show from Scorsese and was accused of glamorising him. This one looks to have been made partly to answer that charge, which is an unusual and not dishonourable reason to make a sequel. It is not, by itself, a story. Watch it for Phoenix and Gaga in the music room and for the numbers that catch fire, and be ready to wait between them. It runs 138 minutes and carries a 15. Nobody sings during the trial; we rather wished they had. *Fi1m score 54, published 12 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews are split almost exactly down the middle, and the spread is wide. Most critics agree on what Phillips has made: a musical sequel that keeps Arthur in prison and the courtroom and lets fantasy numbers stand in for much of the plot. They disagree about whether that is bold or perverse. The praise clusters around the performances, with Phoenix’s commitment and Gaga’s low-key charisma noted even by reviews that dislike the film, and around the musical sequences, which several critics call the most alive thing on screen. The reservations cluster around the songs themselves, the thin writing of Gaga’s role, a slack middle stretch and a sense that the film has less to say than the first. The Telegraph and Time Out find the risks worth taking; The i Paper and The New York Times find it dour and self-indulgent. The AV Club reads its coldness as deliberate, an attempt to dissatisfy the fans who made the first film a hit. ## Straight answers **Is Joker: Folie à Deux worth watching?** *Joker: Folie à Deux* is only intermittently worth watching, and we scored it 54. Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga are good together in the Arkham music room, and two or three of the fantasy numbers come alive, but the long courtroom stretch that fills the second half sits there. It suits patient admirers of the first film; anyone hoping for a thriller will find a slow, sour musical instead. **How long is Joker: Folie à Deux, and what is it rated?** *Joker: Folie à Deux* runs 2h 18m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a drama and crime film. **Where can I watch Joker: Folie à Deux in the US?** *Joker: Folie à Deux* is not on any streaming or rental service in the US at the moment. It is available in 1 other country; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily. **How violent or frightening is Joker: Folie à Deux, and is it suitable for children?** *Joker: Folie à Deux* carries a 15 certificate in the UK and an R in the US, so it is not for children. It is a prison film and a courtroom drama about a man awaiting a possible execution for murder, and the tone is bleak and medicated rather than frightening. Older teenagers who saw the first film will cope; the squeamish should expect grimness more than gore. **What should I watch after Joker: Folie à Deux?** After *Joker: Folie à Deux*, try [*The King of Comedy*](https://film.one/film/the-king-of-comedy) (1982, Fi1m 88): Scorsese’s lonely fan and his talk show; the source Phillips keeps returning to. Then [*Dancer in the Dark*](https://film.one/film/dancer-in-the-dark) (2000, Fi1m 71): Von Trier, Björk, a trial and musical numbers that hurt; bleaker and braver than this; and [*Chicago*](https://film.one/film/chicago) (2002, Fi1m 73): Murder, a courtroom and the press as a chorus line, done with actual pleasure. ### Reviews we read (23) - **The Independent**, Geoffrey Macnab (4/5): The sequel is just as bleak and formally daring as the original, with a powerful performance from Phoenix that makes viewers care for Arthur despite his derangement. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/joker-2-review-venice-b2606866.html) - **The Telegraph**, Robbie Collin (4/5): Phillips charts a subversive course for the sequel, keeping the realistic tone with Arthur mostly in prison or court, where musical fantasy numbers provide relief; Phoenix is transfixingly unsettling and the film maintains tinderbox tension despite not matching the predecessor's impact. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2024/09/04/joker-folie-a-deux-review/) - **Time Out**, John Bleasdale (4/5): A bold, often brilliant jukebox musical sequel with zero merriment; Phoenix and Gaga deliver strong performances in a bleak, multi-genre mix that takes risks and avoids obvious routes from the original. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/joker-folie-a-deux-review-2024) - **Empire**, John Nugent (75/100, inferred): The film is a beguiling musical romance between murderous psychopaths, with an oddly hopeful tone and genuine originality in its approach to the character. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/joker-folie-a-deux/) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (60/100, inferred): The film is a bold but indulgent musical sequel that replaces the original's gritty narrative with a romance/courtroom mashup lifted by Lady Gaga's charisma, though it offers little new overall and suffers from thin characterisation for her role. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/oct/06/joker-folie-a-deux-review-lady-gaga-electrifies-in-mediocre-musical-sequel) - **The AV Club**, Jesse Hassenger (C): The film is a sour, contemptuous slog that aims to dissatisfy fans with its affectionless approach and undermining of expectations. It features some mesmerizing minimalist musical duets but overall feels like a perverse joke that prioritizes alienation over engagement. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/joker-folie-a-deux-review) - **Little White Lies**, Hannah Strong (2/2/2): The film is dismissed as a grim, amateurish musical with flat songs and thin characterisation; Gaga is underused and Phoenix's singing is grating, making it embarrassing overall despite minor improvements over the first Joker. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/joker-folie-a-deux) - **The Times** (30/100, inferred): The result is a messy, lifeless, derivative musical set mostly in Arkham asylum with uninspired songs and a disappointing follow-up to Phoenix's Oscar-winning performance, though it looks nice and retains the mournful score. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/joker-folie-a-deux-review-joaquin-phoenix-lady-gaga-sequel-05bkvdmz9) - **The i Paper**, Christina Newland (20/100, inferred): The film is staggeringly stupid and self-indulgent, with tacked-on musical numbers and a simple-minded take on mental health, though Lady Gaga shines as a star. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/gaga-star-joker-folie-a-deux-review-3306410) - **Financial Times**, Danny Leigh (★★★☆☆): The film is a curious musical romance between Phoenix's Arthur and Gaga's Harleen in Arkham that can be deeply boring yet offers clever moments and is less dislikeable than the first, with the point perhaps being that we live in fantasy or there is no point. [Read](https://www.ft.com/content/cdee0704-e8f1-404c-a8af-3af7814f11d0) - **Los Angeles Times**, Michael Ordoña: Phoenix and Gaga are committed and the film offers some interesting ideas about identity, but momentum issues, lengthy musical detours, and a lack of suspense or thriller elements make it falter as a character study or sequel. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2024-10-04/joker-folie-a-deux-review-joaquin-phoenix-lady-gaga-todd-phillips) - **Radio Times** (★★★★☆): The sequel lacks the original's intensity but surprises with its musical elements and downbeat tone; Phoenix and Gaga shine in versatile, engaging performances that reinvent the comic-book movie in a brooding way. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/app/joker-folie-a-deux-review-joaquin-phoenix-and-lady-gaga-shine-in-downbeat-sequel/) - **Screen Daily**: An ambitious but mostly unsuccessful sequel mixing musical and courtroom elements; big swings largely miss, with lukewarm chemistry, familiar performances, and a failure to match the original's insight or grandeur. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/joker-folie-a-deux-venice-review/5196494.article) - **Sight and Sound**: The critic finds the sequel less morally provocative and more enjoyable than the original, thanks to strong musical numbers and Joaquin Phoenix's committed performance, though it may disappoint diehard fans of the first film. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/joker-folie-deux-this-all-singing-sequel-tapdances-trolls) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, David Rooney: The sequel is uneven and narratively thin, confining the story mostly to prison and courtroom settings while adding fantasy musical numbers. The musical sequences and the performances of Phoenix and Gaga stand out as the film's most vital and electric elements. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/joker-folie-a-deux-review-joaquin-phoenix-lady-gaga-todd-phillips-sequel-1235989963/) - **The New York Times**, Manohla Dargis: The film is a dour, unpleasant slog that is hard to know why it was made or for whom. It is a half-baked, halfhearted musical with one star who can sing and another who cannot or will not. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/03/movies/joker-folie-a-deux-review.html) - **/Film**, Bill Bria (8/10): The critic finds the film a compelling character study and musical deconstruction that extends the first Joker's themes, praising its psychological realism and Lady Gaga's revelatory performance as Lee. They note it feels honest to itself despite attempting to tackle too much. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/1653083/joker-2-review/) - **NME**, Matthew Turner (4/5): The critic praises it as a surprisingly moving, psychologically complex tale that is part prison movie, part courtroom drama and all musical, confronting elements of the first film in a bold way. They single out the performances of Phoenix and Gaga, and the film's gorgeous visuals and unexpected social responsibility. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/film-reviews/joker-folie-a-deux-review-lady-gaga-3790522) - **Den of Geek**, Rosie Fletcher (2/5): The critic finds the film a messy, dull, and overly long courtroom drama and prison story with little point or chemistry, despite strong performances from Phoenix and Gaga. They single out the musical numbers for adding some color but criticize them as not advancing the story sufficiently. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/joker-2-review-tuneless-musical-with-lady-gaga/) - **Polygon**, Susana Polo (35/100, inferred): The review highlights the film's numerous contradictions in character portrayal, messaging, and reality framing that leave its themes muddled. It criticizes the indulgent approach that fails to deliver a clear or satisfying statement. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/movies/460843/joker-2-review-folie-a-deux) - **Collider**, Martin Tsai (25/100, inferred): The critic deems the sequel an underwhelming mishandling of its jukebox musical idea, with clashing scores and arbitrary song choices. Phoenix and Gaga's performances are also found lacking in depth and impact. [Read](https://collider.com/joker-folie-a-deux-review/) - **Deadline**, Pete Hammond: The critic calls the film a brilliant and audacious musical return to the world of madness, praising its head-spinning mix of song, dance, comedy, darkness and drama as unlike any other musical. He singles out Lady Gaga's smartly low-key performance as Harleen 'Lee' Quinzel for showing believable affection and connection. [Read](https://deadline.com/2024/09/joker-folie-a-deux-review-joaquin-phoenix-lady-gaga-brilliant-musical-return-world-of-madness-venice-film-festival-1236077064/) - **The Wrap**, William Bibbiani: The critic finds the film the most interesting one about Arthur Fleck, describing it as genuinely daring, challenging and genuine in its approach. He singles out the way it undercuts expectations of the first film's blockbuster success by questioning audience fascination with the character. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/joker-folie-a-deux-review-joaquin-phoenix-lady-gaga/) ## Details - **Director:** Todd Phillips - **Director:** Todd Phillips - **Writer:** Scott Silver, Todd Phillips - **Cinematography:** Lawrence Sher - **Editor:** Jeff Groth - **Music:** Hildur Guðnadóttir - **Production design:** Mark Friedberg - **Costume design:** Arianne Phillips - **Producer:** Todd Phillips, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Joseph Garner - **Cast:** Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck; Lady Gaga as Lee Quinzel; Brendan Gleeson as Jackie Sullivan; Catherine Keener as Maryanne Stewart; Zazie Beetz as Sophie Dumond; Steve Coogan as Paddy Meyers; Harry Lawtey as Harvey Dent; Leigh Gill as Gary Puddles - **Runtime:** 2h 18m - **Certificate (MPA):** R - **Release (the US):** 4 October 2024 - **Genres:** Drama, Crime, Thriller - **Budget:** $190 million - **Box office:** $208 million ## Where to watch in the US Not streaming, renting or buying in the US at the last check. Also available in: GB. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Pennies from Heaven* (1981): Depression-era misery with the cast lip-syncing to old records; the film this one wants to be. - *The Singing Detective* (1986): Dennis Potter puts a sick man in a hospital bed and lets him dream in show tunes. - *The King of Comedy* (1982), Fi1m 88: Scorsese’s lonely fan and his talk show; the source Phillips keeps returning to. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-king-of-comedy.md) - *Dancer in the Dark* (2000), Fi1m 71: Von Trier, Björk, a trial and musical numbers that hurt; bleaker and braver than this. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/dancer-in-the-dark.md) - *Chicago* (2002), Fi1m 73: Murder, a courtroom and the press as a chorus line, done with actual pleasure. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/chicago.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/joker-folie-a-deux