JOKER FOLIE A DEUX Movie Minute Review

This is Paul Salfen with your KLAK Movie Minute brought to you by KYO and The Red Pill. In theaters this weekend is what’s sure to be the most polarizing film of the year – Joker Folie a Deux, the sequel to the film that got Joaquin Phoenix his well-deserved Oscar and showed that Hangover director Todd Phillips could take on some serious dark stuff. Well, here we are five years later and this sequel is one of the most anticipated movies of the year, especially with the addition of Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn and some musical numbers for something different but wow, that was not the movie critics expected and certainly won’t be the movie audiences expected. While it gets points for originality and trying to say something, the presentation was all wrong. It was too long, too convoluted, and the music was, sadly, unnecessary. That said, Phoenix was incredible as always, but as you might have guessed, he’s not really a singer. And Gaga was great, but criminally underused. She picks it up when she’s on screen but it’s not as much as you’d think. It’s basically a courtroom drama full of unlikable characters – and random singing. It’s been a while since a big movie seemed to tank so hard out of the gate, but unfortunately this is probably not the sequel you had hoped for and likely won’t make the cut at the Oscars this year. There may be a few that love it but it’s more likely to go the other way with both critics and audiences. That’s it for this week. Join me next week and every week for another Movie Minute right here on 97.5 KLAK, AMFM Magazine, and RECRD.