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I hated Joker on a molecular level, so Folie á Deux is an improvement of sorts. The problem this time around is that Todd Phillips doesn’t have either the courage or the conviction to commit to staging Arthur’s existential crisis as a 1950s musical, which is actually quite interesting as a concept. Instead, he tosses some quite good musical numbers into a tedious and obnoxious courtroom drama that merely exists as a meta-commentary on the first film that has nothing interesting to say (which, well, like the first film). Ironically, I think Joaquin Phoenix gives a more interesting performance in this film, and he and Gaga are great together. Casting Gaga as a woman who literally lives for the applause is a stroke of genius, which makes her under-utilization close to unforgivable. Technically impressive but narratively and thematic bankrupt, this is a mental breakdown in cinematic form, which at least makes it more interesting than the first for me.
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