Joker: Folie À Deux, Todd Phillips’ follow-up to his critical and commercial smash hit Joker world premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Fest.

The Warner film stars Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck/Joker, a role that secured Phoenix a best actor Oscar for his performance in the 2019 film.

Joining the action for the sequel is Lady Gaga in the pivotal role of Harley Quinn, the Joker’s equally damaged companion in crime. In Joker: Folie À Deux, Arthur Fleck is institutionalized at Arkham awaiting trial for his crimes as the Joker. It is there where he finds true love with Gaga’s Harley Quinn and also the “music that’s always been inside him,” according to previously released trailers.

Joker: Folie À Deux is so far receiving mixed reviews.

The Hollywood Reporter‘s David Rooney calls Folie À Deux “uneven,” writing that while Gaga’s performance is worthy of praise, the sequel falters by being “narratively a little thin and at times dull.” He notes that “Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver in the first Joker had the sturdy bones of Scorsese films, Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, on which to hang their story and set their tone. This one is built on more of conceit than solid story foundation.”

Vulture‘s Allison Willmore feels that one of the main issues with the film is that Arthur “just isn’t that interesting despite how much effort Phoenix puts into rendering the character in exquisitely anguished mental and sunken-chested physical detail.” She also writes that even when Arthur “thinks he’s seizing control,” he becomes “a punching bag for the world, and more importantly, for the director, who subjects the character to so many indignities that he actually stops being pitiable and starts resembling the punch line to a long, shaggy joke.”

The Guardian‘s Peter Bradshaw opines that Gaga is underused in the sequel, despite the fanfare that her starring role has received, pointing out that the film’s “story as constructed doesn’t give Gaga’s character much of a chance at development.”

However, some critics thoroughly enjoyed Phillips’ fresh spin on the Joker and his paramour.

“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,” NME‘s Matthew Turner writes. “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.”

John Nugent at Empire also thinks that the musical moments helped the story, “The unorthodox, unvarnished delivery of the songs from Phoenix and Gaga sells so much that a dialogue-light script does not. Burt Bacharach’s ‘Close To You’ has rarely been performed as chillingly. Yet where the first film was relentlessly oppressive and bleak, there is an oddly hopeful tone here.

Arthur’s performance of ‘For Once In My Life’, in particular, is a curious blend of quiet menace and truly heartfelt passion.”