“Joker: Folie à Deux” hit a sour note for some audiences.
The highly anticipated “Joker” sequel, which hit theaters on Friday, is underwhelming at the box office, and for those who did see the movie, they weren’t staying long.
Social media users took the internet by storm to share why Joaquin Phoenix, who reprised his role as the Joker, and Lady Gaga, who played Harley Quinn, didn’t cut it for them.
“Guys, me and my wife are at the view, and we’re going to watch ‘Joker 2’ and the screening before us, everyone’s leaving. Like everyone is leaving early, it can’t be that bad, right?” one TikTok user said in a video on Sunday.
“The reviews are not saying it’s bad, but everyone is leaving early. What the f–k is this?”
Later in the clip, he rated the movie, telling followers, “That s–t was garbage. Don’t waste your time. What the f–k? Two hours I am never going to get back. Don’t f–king waste your time.”
Another TikToker, Kate, captioned her video “JOKER2 review … so so disappointing ” before describing what went wrong.
“Don’t waste your money on going to the ‘Joker,’” she began. “I am so disappointed.”
Her boyfriend chimed in, “If you’re expecting to go see the ‘Joker’ and see some action, you will not see any. It is basically a musical. It’s like watching ‘Matilda’ or some s–t.”
Kate added, “The first one was so good and it’s like they literally had no idea what they were doing. They wanted to make another one but had no idea what to do with it.”
She also had a bone to pick about the sequel’s casting.
“Also, they should have left Margot Robbie in it,” noted Kate. “Just don’t waste your money.”
As one user with the TikTok handle BatsReacts put it in his movie review, “What the f–k was that? I don’t even want to talk about it. I didn’t even really want to review it. What the f–k was that?”
He went into a more in-depth review later in a follow-up video.
“This is not your classic musical, it’s a movie with musical elements, that’s about it,” he explained. “For the most part, I liked them. They were kind of forced sometimes and weird, but I get it. The biggest selling point of the movie was Harley Quinn and Joker and it didn’t work at all.”
“The reason that Arthur is the way he is, we get it. They don’t show us why Harley is the way she is. Why is she doing what she’s doing? No one really knows. You don’t get the character, so you don’t get the relationship. It could have been great, but it wasn’t. In the first movie, we saw Arthur Fleck ascending into Joker, which was glorious, but in this one, we see him descending back to Arthur Fleck.”
He added, “Which I get it, it’s like a certain ark. Very interesting, but it didn’t work. You took this character that is magnificently built and tore him down and left him there.”
Amid poor reviews from audiences, “Joker: Folie à Deux” still opened to No. 1 with $40 million. However, the number was significantly down from the $96.2 million the original movie grossed in its 2019 debut.
Other social media users loved the film, understanding it was meant to be a musical project.
“I really don’t think it was that bad,” one person said. “I know all you’ve seen for the past three days was hate for this movie, but it’s not that bad.”
Leading with the pros, he said, “Cinematography, this is a beautiful f–king movie. Go see it in IMAX. I don’t push seeingmovies in IMAX a lot but this movie is f–king beautiful.”
“Joaquin Phoenix. Again, an amazing performer as Joker. The same kind of mental, emotional battles he does in the first movie he does in this movie even better I say. I don’t understand people saying this is such a departure from the first ‘Joker,’” continued the fan. “Yes. This movie is a musical. To the definition of a musical, this is a musical movie. This movie is just like the first one, except whenever he goes crazy, you see him envisioning a musical instead of it just all being in his head.”
He added, “I mean, the first one had him dancing in a f–king bathroom and it also had him dancing on the stairs. That is not crazy to what happened in this movie.”
Despite not backing Lady Gaga’s portrayal in the movie, he said, “I thought the story and the plot lines and everything was fine. If you like ‘Joker,’ you’re going to like this movie. Go to it expecting that you’re going to see a lot of dancing and a lot of singing and a lot of wild s–t. But I think if you go into it really liking the first one, you’re going to like this one. It’s not the worst comic movie ever made. It’s a movie put together. I’ll recommend it.”
