Joker: Folie à Deux, the follow-up to 2019’s Oscar-winning Joker, has become one of the biggest box-office bombs in modern movie histoy. But despite the terrible critical and commercial reception that cost Warner Bros. somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 million during its theatrical run, Joker believers have gained an ally in the form of Quentin Tarantino.
During a recent appearance on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast, the celebrated filmmaker didn’t hold back in his praise for the Todd Phillips sequel.
“I really, really liked it, really,” he revealed. “I’m just nihilistic enough to kind of enjoy a movie that doesn’t quite work as a movie, and that’s a big, giant mess to some degree. I didn’t find it an intellectual exercise. I really got caught up into it. I really liked the musical sequences. I thought the more banal the songs were, the better they were.”
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While many fans of the 2019 film felt alienated by the pivot the sequel film took into musical territory, with Lady Gaga joining as the “Lee” Quinzel to Joaquin Phoenix’s previously acclaimed Arthur Fleck, Tarantino was entertained.
“Todd Phillips is the Joker,” he theorized. “The Joker directed the movie. The entire concept, even him spending the studio’s money – he’s spending it like the Joker would spend it, right? His big surprise gift, the jack in the box, when he offers you his hand for a handshake and you get a buzzer with 10,000 volts shooting you, is the comic book geeks. He’s saying ‘fuck you’ to all of them.”
Audiences didn’t seem to care for the result as much as Tarantino did; Joker Folie à Deux earned a rare “D” CinemaScore.
“I thought it was really funny,” said Tarantino, who also described Phoenix’s performance as “one of the best performances I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Next month, in celebration of the 30th anniversary of his classic crime movie Pulp Fiction, the film is getting a new 4K Ultra HD collector’s edition (pre-order here), out December 3rd. The cult classic will also receive a brief theatrical run.
