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Paul Schrader has offered a withering assessment of Joker: Folie à Deux, saying he walked out after around 10 or 15 minutes, bought something, came back for another 10 minutes and decided: “That was enough.”
The First Reformed filmmaker, 78, is known for his outspoken views about films. He made his name as the screenwriter of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, which some critics identified as a significant influence on the original Joker.
In conversation with playwright Jeremy O Harris for Interview Magazine, Schrader described the sequel as a “really bad musical.”
Asked to elaborate, Schrader was dismissive of stars Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga.
“I don’t like either of those people,” he said. “I don’t like them as actors. I don’t like them as characters. I don’t like the whole thing.
“I mean, those are people who, if they came to your house, you’d slip out the back door.”
Joker: Folie à Deux, which like the first film was directed by The Hangover filmmaker Todd Phillips, has flopped at the box office. The original film grossed over $1bn at the box office when it was released in 2019, while its sequel appears to be struggling to recoup the $190m to £200m budget it cost to make. The film has made a reported $120m to date.
Critics and audiences seem to largely share Schrader’s view of the film. It currently has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 33 percent from critics and a paltry 32 percent audience score based on over 5,000 verified views.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Joker: Folie à Deux is the first Hollywood comic book movie to earn a D CinemaScore from opening day audiences.
The Independent‘s assessment was less negative than other publications, with film critic Geoffrey Macnab awarding it four stars in a review that reads in part: “The darkness at the core of the film is underlined by its very brutal ending, which rejects comic book conventions in favour of psychological depth.
“Phoenix’s performance remains powerful and stirring, too. The genius of it is that we can’t help but care for Arthur despite his neediness and derangement.
“Even during the film’s most apocalyptic and violent moments, we’re always aware that, underneath Joker’s gaudy warpaint, lurks little, feeble Arthur. Against the odds, this ingenious and deeply unsettling film even turns into a bit of a weepie by the final reel.”
Joker: Folie à Deux is out in cinemas now.
