Joker: Folie à Deux has received a soft Rotten Tomatoes rating ahead of its release.
The highly anticipated sequel to Todd Phillips' huge 2019 hit releases this week, and from all the critic reviews aggregated by the site, only 39% of them are positive.
Unlike its predecessor, which is a psychological thriller in the vein of Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, the sequel is a jukebox musical.
It's the aspect that has divided critics the most, it seems. Some reviewers have found all the musical sequences to be overindulgent inclusions that bog down the drama, while others believe that their implementation didn't go far enough.
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Here's what some of the reviews have said:
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Slant - 1/5
"In grappling with the implications of its story, Folie à Deux’s every attempt at showcasing cleverness, verve, or engagement is held underwater by staid direction, shoddy emotional plotting, a gleeful sense of cruelty, and a grave nihilism that makes Zack Snyder’s work seem like a season of Bluey."
Blu-ray.com - 4/10
"It plays like an R-rated version of the Seinfeld series finale, and detours into the recesses of these bruised minds simply rehash psychological profiles from the first feature. Folie à Deux has outstanding tech credits, but rich sound and cinematography only take the effort so far. The rest of this Joker remix doesn't offer anything fresh or interesting to a storyline that was essentially completed five years ago."
FandomWire - 7/10
"Joker: Folie à Deux is a mixed bag of unfulfilled ideas. It's a bold swing and among the most ambitious comic book movies ever made, but the scattered plot and a failure to commit to its musical leanings drag it down. Still, it's a darkly beautiful story with an all-star cast, and Phoenix gives another career-defining performance."
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CinemaBlend - 3.5/5
"The big swings certainly continue. The familiar unpleasant atmosphere is back in full force, it is very much a musical (undeniably a shocking genre choice), and there is an evident meta-commentary in Todd Phillips and Scott Silver's screenplay that takes a surprising look at the audience’s reception of the previous chapter. The big difference this time out, however, is that some of those big swings end up being overswings that eclipse the movie's best qualities."
Collider - 4/10
"With Folie à Deux, the idea seems half-baked. The musical numbers are perpetually at odds with the gritty realism director Phillips aims to achieve... Even during the fantasy musical numbers, which give cover to stray from the overall aesthetics of the film, Phillips is just incapable of delivering the genre's requisite razzle-dazzle that would surely complement Joker’s persona. Fleck gets an impressive tap number, but the film is otherwise devoid of any choreography."
Joker: Folie à Deux is out now in cinemas.
Read more Joker news on our dedicated homepage
Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.
