In what may be the greatest plot twist of the year, Joker: Folie à Deux has gone from one of 2024’s most hyped movies to the butt of its own inside jokes. Starring Lady Gaga as the chaotic Harley Quinn and Joaquin Phoenix reprising his brooding Joker, this was supposed to be the movie of the year. Turns out it was… well, the flop.
According to Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav, Joker 2 didn’t just miss the bullseye – it missed the whole dartboard. “Inconsistent,” he called it, which is corporate speak for, “We don’t know what went wrong either, but that was rough.” Word on the street is that the studio was hoping for Oscar buzz; instead, they got Razzie vibes. And they’re not even pretending to be happy about it.
Comedian Tim Dillon’s Rant on The Joe Rogan Podcast Is Almost Better Than the Movie
If Joker 2’s dramatic floppage wasn’t enough, comedian Tim Dillon – who had a small role as an Arkham guard – made sure the roast was well-done. On The Joe Rogan Podcast, he did everything short of throwing the film out of a moving car. “This film? Absolutely the worst. No plot. I mean, not even hate-watchable! Just… unwatchable,” Dillon laughed, making it sound like he was describing the cinematic equivalent of stale popcorn.
Dillon described his time on set like a bizarre therapy session, where the cast whispered to each other, “Wait, what’s happening here? What’s the plot? Do they fall in love? Are they in prison? Is this actually happening, or is this a fever dream?” According to Dillon, Joker 2 was essentially two hours of Joker and Harley Quinn performing “tap-dancing routines of absolute confusion,” leaving even the actors unsure if they were shooting a psychological thriller or a surreal Broadway musical.
Incels to Tap Dancers: How Joker 2 Swung Wildly in the Wrong Direction
Apparently, after the original Joker was praised by some for its gritty take on male rage, nihilism, and chaotic anarchy, the creators of Joker 2 thought, “Let’s dial that down, throw some jazz hands in, and get quirky!” Imagine Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga doing interpretive dance numbers while trying to keep a straight face. Dillon speculated they might’ve swung a little too hard to avoid controversy and ended up with something no one understood.
The entire production, it seems, became a sort of Folie à Deux in its own right – a shared madness where everyone just kept going along with it because, hey, if Gaga’s tap dancing next to Joaquin Phoenix in clown makeup, who’s going to question it? The real madness, however, might have been thinking audiences would follow.
