Joker: Folie à Deux
Warner Bros. | Release Date: October 4, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
46
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 64 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
27
Negative:
16
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Original-CinJim SlotekOct 3, 2024
To repeat, Folie à Deux is not “canon.” It’s a writer/director realizing a vision with something sincere and clever, which you can accept or reject. Superhero fans will get their fix soon enough. But this is not that. Read full review
80
Next Best PictureEma SasicMay 13, 2026
Joker: Folie à Deux does many things right to deliver a fresh and unique sequel to the dark story of Arthur Fleck. Read full review
80
Radio TimesJames MottramMay 13, 2026
While the film arguably lacks the rage-fuelled intensity of Joker, this is still a brooding tale that works hard to reinvent the comic book movie. Read full review
80
Time OutJohn BleasdaleSep 4, 2024
Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga bring music but zero merriment to a bold and often brilliant sequel. Read full review
80
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiSep 4, 2024
What’s most impressive about Joker: Folie à Deux is the way Phillips willingly undercuts his own billion-dollar blockbuster. He’s looking inward. Arthur is looking inward. Hopefully the audience will too, and question why they care so much about Arthur Fleck in the first place. Read full review
80
EmpireJohn NugentSep 4, 2024
As sweet and beguiling a musical romance as it’s possible to have between two murderous psychopaths. Its kooky approach won’t suit all stripes of comic-book fan, but it finds a strange, tragic hopefulness all of its own. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinSep 4, 2024
As a repeat performance – even a cunningly subversive one – Folie à Deux can’t quite match its predecessor for dizzying impact. But it matches it for horrible tinderbox tension: it’s a film you feel might burst into flames at any given moment. Read full review
80
SlashfilmBill BriaSep 4, 2024
It feels remarkably honest and true to itself, demonstrating again that taking such a popular character seriously is nothing to laugh at. Read full review
80
The IndependentGeoffrey MacnabSep 4, 2024
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. Read full review
80
NMEMatthew TurnerSep 4, 2024
Phillips and Silver have delivered the last thing anyone expected: a socially responsible Joker movie that finds an intriguing way to explore the consequences (both on and offscreen) of the first film. Joker fans shouldn’t cry too hard though – Warner Bros. have cleverly found a way to leave the door open a little for the franchise to continue, should the need arise. Read full review
75
Film ThreatBradley GibsonOct 4, 2024
A dark, thrilling drama unfolds with these two spinning their own world on top of the grim reality of Gotham and Arkham. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsOct 3, 2024
So who’s up for a strange, disarming musical? As much as I hated the first one, this one works for me. Read full review
75
The PlaylistRafaela Sales RossSep 4, 2024
Of all the things Phillips does better in Joker: Folie à Deux than he did in Joker, the best is by far his course correction in catering to radical misogynists. The director isn’t subtle in his nods to the controversy stirred by the original. Read full review
73
Paste MagazineJason GorberOct 3, 2024
This is a sequel that literally puts on trial not simply its protagonist, but the very storyline that preceded it, making mockery of the simplistic readings that it engendered, while at the same time engaging in the kind of hoarish courtroom antics that make the musical sequences feel almost vérité in stylistic contrast. Read full review
70
Screen RantAlex HarrisonSep 4, 2024
Joker: Folie à Deux is not always fully thought through. This is why the original was often misread in the first place. This film is full of quality craftwork, performances, and images. There's much here to appreciate, especially visually, and I enjoyed my time with it. But I'd recommend not asking much more of it than that. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerOct 3, 2024
Phillips sets the stage for a courtroom procedural – and then rolls a hand grenade into the middle of that weighty stage with a series of song and dance numbers. Read full review
67
The Film StageLuke HicksSep 4, 2024
It’s not that the film is so crazy that you have to see it (in fact, what’s crazy about it is that it isn’t); rather that few have ever had a platform like Philips and Joaquin Phoenix to fool with expectations of the masses so blatantly. How they did it is something worth seeing. Read full review
63
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenOct 8, 2024
Unfortunately, Folie à Deux fails to take full advantage of the musical format. Returning director Todd Phillips—who showed a surprising command of cinematic language in the first film—fails to bring a coherent formal strategy to this new genre. Read full review
63
Washington PostTy BurrOct 3, 2024
With more daring than success, Joker: Folie à Deux says that anyone who takes the Joker for a hero to be emulated is as delusional as Arthur Fleck, and it serves up its comic-book cake at the same time it stuffs it with rat poison. Read full review
63
USA TodayBrian TruittOct 3, 2024
While “Folie à Deux” embraces a heightened, even cartoonish quality in continuing the story of Phoenix’s troubled soul, Phillips really misses a chance to go full musical and do something truly different. Just dipping its toes in that genre, with those strong performers, is enough to drive you mad. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperOct 1, 2024
Ultimately, though, the sequel has very little new to say about Arthur Fleck and his place in this world, and the musical interludes start to feel like gratuitous self-indulgence rather than insightful and illuminating passages that advance or enhance the material. Read full review
More From This Movie

46 Critic Reviews

tbd User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 72 The Sheep Detectives
5 63 Normal
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL