Connect with us

Movie Reviews

Film Review: The Joke is On the Audience with the Awful 'Joker: Folie à Deux' – Awards Radar

Published

on

Film Review: The Joke is On the Audience with the Awful 'Joker: Folie à Deux' – Awards Radar
Warner Bros.

I went into Joker: Folie à Deux with such an open mind, ladies and gentlemen. After all, while I didn’t particularly like Joker, I found it to be pretty effective at what it set out to do. The film was doing something I didn’t care for, but it was achieving its goals. The musical element here, the trailers, it all pointed to doing something bold and different, which I more than appreciate. Alas, the movie we ended up with is dreadful and a complete slog. This is, without question, one of 2024’s cinematic lowlights.

Joker: Folie à Deux is awful. It’s not interesting in the slightest, overstays its welcome by nearly an hour, and leaves you in a terrible place. The success of the first film enabled the sequel to more or less go anywhere the creative process could take it. The fact that this is the movie that resulted is almost mind-boggling. Aside from solid technical work behind the camera and a nice performance or two, there’s absolutely nothing here.

Warner Bros.

In the aftermath of the first film, Arthur Fleck/Joker (Joaquin Phoenix) is locked up in Arkham and awaiting a competency hearing before his murder trial. Escorted by the guards (including Brendan Gleeson) to his lawyer (Catherine Keener) in a minimum security wing, Arthur catches a glimpse of Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga) in a music therapy class. He’s smitten, and when he’s allowed to take the class for good behavior, Lee is just as interested in him. Their relationship flourishes in musical interludes, while those around them debate if Arthur is mentally ill or just a monster.

Declared competent to stand trial, Arthur is more concerned initially with Lee having a good seat than what the case against him is. Lee has a plan for them both, which he goes along with, but as the trial proceeds, his lawyer argues that the separate Joker persona is to blame, while prosecutor Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey) argues that Arthur is nothing more than a barbaric monster. How this all resolves I won’t spoil, but it’s deeply unsatisfying, actually building to a final moment that isn’t just awful, but could very well be insulting to fans.

Warner Bros.

Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga are the least of the issues here, though neither gets much of a showcase. Phoenix is far more passive of a character here, only coming alive during the musical numbers. Gaga has a very underwritten Harley Quinn interpretation to play with, and while she gives it her all, no one could save the character. Her sining is a highlight, at least. The pair have no chemistry, so the “love story” is never believable. It’s actually depressing to see Brendan Gleeson and Catherine Keener given this little to do. It’s nice that they presumably got paid handsomely, but it’s criminal to neglect their talents. In addition to Harry Lawtey, the supporting cast includes returning players Zazie Beetz and Leigh Gill, as well as newcomers like Steve Coogan (wasted as well), Ken Leung, Jacob Lofland, and Sharon Washington.

Advertisement

Filmmaker Todd Phillips actively torpedoes good returning technical work from cinematographer Lawrence Sher and composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, which is a real shame. Last time, with Joker, you left with the sense that Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver had seen The King of Comedy and Taxi Driver growing up, if not the sense that they fully got the point of those flicks. Joker: Folie à Deux makes Joker actually seem like The King of Comedy and Taxi Driver, by comparison. The musical numbers are bland and forgettable, the plot is threadbare, and the pacing nonexistent. Phillips’ direction lacks any sense of forward momentum, so by the time you reach the atrocious ending that he and Silver have cooked up, you’re long past the point of caring in the slightest.

Warner Bros.

Don’t expect the same type of awards attention this time around. I’d be very surprise for any above the line Oscar nominations, given the miserable lack of quality on display. Now, below the line, Guðnadóttir could once again be a factor in Best Original Score, while something like Best Production Design wouldn’t be crazy. Regardless, this flick will not be an Academy Award juggernaut, mark my words.

Joker: Folie à Deux is one of the worst films of the year, full stop. Fans of the first movie will be flummoxed by the choices made here, while anyone not previously on board won’t see anything worthwhile within. I hated nearly every moment of this film, which is something I rarely say. See it if you like and decide for yourself, but I never want to even think of this dreck ever again. Yuck.

SCORE: ★1/2

Movie Reviews

Super Duperr Movie Review: A wild ride filled with laughter and emotion

Published

on

Super Duperr Movie Review: A wild ride filled with laughter and emotion

The Times of India

Apr 07, 2026, 3:24 PM IST

3.0

Super Duperr is a riot in all senses of the word. A wild ride filled with laughter and emotion it presents an unusual matchup of traditional and modern values.Rohit (Lalit Prabhakar) and Isha (Vidula Chougule) are a young couple trying to make their mark in the entertainment industry. They take their relationship to the next level and purchase a flat in Mumbai with their savings. It is here that they realise that they have fallen for a scam when the same house is sold to and currently occupied by a rural family. What follows is a series of clashes and learning moments that test the morality of both parties. The story is a fun take on a series of real world scams and as such has a very interesting premise. The Sameer Asha Patil film however chooses to take a detour in favour of certain stretched out gags and slow motion shots. What could have been a deep exploration of the two worlds colliding, ends up being a formulaic checklist of a wedding song, an action sequence and a few slapstick gags. These are passable of course, but the ho-hum nature of the story’s progression feels under utilized. Super Duperr does offer impactful emotional sequences, notably the equation between the parents (Shashank Shende and Nirmiti Sawant) and his eldest son (Hrishikesh Joshi). The music and cinematography are well executed and add abundantly to the viewing experience. Super Duperr set a rich tapestry only to ultimately doodle in a corner. While it could have benefitted from adding more inter-family interactions, it remains a good watch for this weekend.

Continue Reading

Movie Reviews

Why Critics Despise The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (But Audiences Love It)

Published

on

Why Critics Despise The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (But Audiences Love It)

The verdict is in, and critics have widely panned The Super Mario Galaxy Movie while audiences have universally praised the family-friendly sequel. This follow-up to the fan-favorite The Super Mario Bros. Movie has been in theaters for about a week since its debut on April 1, and it has already had the best box office opening in 2026, earning more than $190 million over its 5-day domestic weekend. Worldwide, it has amassed $372 million, making it the fifth largest global opening ever for an animated film. Despite the movie being a massive box office hit, however, the review scores are terribly low for the video game adaptation, and there are several reasons why.

Fans vs. critics on The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

As of April 6, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has a mediocre 42% Tomatometer score from a total of 175 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes while holding a fantastic 89% Popcornmeter score from over 5,000 verified user ratings. That’s a stark 47-point difference between critics and users.

A similarly wide disparity can be found on Metacritic as well, where the sequel has a “generally unfavorable” Metascore of a 37 based on 45 reviews, despite it earning a “generally favorable” user score of a 7.9 (basically, a 42-point difference).

This gulf between professional reviews and user reviews for this sequel likely isn’t too surprising by fans of the original 2023 Super Mario Bros. movie. That film earned a 59% Tomatometer but a 95% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes, and it has “mixed or average” 46 Metascore but a “universal acclaim” user score of 8.1.

To be fair, the range of critic scores for the film is vast on Metacritic, with about seven reviews above a 60 and fifteen reviews below a 40. ComingSoon’s Jonathan Sim give it a “Good” 7 out of 10 rating, noting that “it doesn’t necessarily deepen the emotional or narrative complexity of the franchise, but it refines what worked before amplifies it on a grander scale.” However, many other reviews are far less kind, particularly the 0 out of 5 rating from The Times that calls the film “ugly, overbranded, lifeless digital marketing vomit” and a review from Vulture that says it’s like being “asphyxiated in a ball pit filled with candy.”

Advertisement

Meanwhile, multiple user reviews on Metacritic are shocked at the reviews. One called the low Metascore “absolutely ridiculous,” while another asked readers to ignore the critics altogether. A different user wrote, “It’s wild to see professional critics giving this a zero. It feels like they’ve never actually picked up a controller.” And to that person’s credit, we did find that a few critics who gave low scores admitting that the film wasn’t meant for them or that they had never played a Mario game before. Indeed, the movie is chock full of Nintendo references and easter eggs, something that Mario fans will appreciate far more than anyone who doesn’t know or care about the difference between a Super Mushroom and a Fire Flower.

More broadly speaking, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has more than several traits that critics tend to dislike but that audiences enjoy. The first is that it’s a quick-paced, action-packed film, which features a handful of battles with Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Princess Peach, Toad, Fox McCloud, Bowser, Bowser Jr., and Wart. Another is that it’s a comedic adventure with cartoonish gags that are age-appropriate for kids and humorous to Mario fans who are in on the joke. On top of that, the film is a family-friendly video game adaptation, a genre that doesn’t usually score well from critics. A Minecraft Movie, another box office smash that earned $960 million worldwide (and also starred Jack Black), was equally slammed by critics with a 47% Tomatometer but lauded by audiences with an 84% Popcornmeter.

Taken altogether, the movie was almost made in a lab for reviewers to despise and for audiences to praise as a nostalgic love letter to Nintendo. Regardless, despite how critics feel, they’ll need to brace themselves for more, since the Nintendo Cinematic Universe is looking like it will come sooner than later.

Continue Reading

Movie Reviews

I Know Exactly How You Die – Review | Indie Slasher | Heaven of Horror

Published

on

I Know Exactly How You Die – Review | Indie Slasher | Heaven of Horror

Watch I Know Exactly How I Die on VOD

The director of I Know Exactly How I Die is Alexandra Spieth, who ensures a tight pace and some gorgeous shots. She previously directed Stag and created and starred in the web-series [Blank] My Life. The screenplay comes from Mike Corey, and I do really like the plot and evolution of this story.

As already mentioned, the star Rushabh Patel is the executive producer. As a result, this movie is billed as “Rushabh Patel’s I Know Exactly How I Die“, which I am not a fan of. Unless Rushabh Patel is famous in ways I am not familiar with – nor is IMDb, as this is his first and so far only credit there.

This is like people wondering if Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen is connected to Stranger Things, because the media keeps referring to it as a new show from The Duffer Brothers. Sure, they produced it, but Haley Z. Boston created the original story and wrote the screenplay. And she’s not even a newcomer.

Okay, rant over, but I just don’t understand the marketing and press decisions of it all.

Anyway, as already mentioned, the practical effects in I Know Exactly How I Die are gorgeous. Any slasher fan should enjoy the concept of the plot as well as those amazing practical effects. And yet, you will have to endure a little terrible CGI, but this is an indie production, so budget restraints come into play. Of course, so does choosing the best talent, and that did not happen for CGI here!

Advertisement

I Know Exactly How You Die is out on VOD from April 7, 2026. You can rent it on Digital HD from your preferred platform, including Prime Video and Fandango at Home. The film will also be available on DVD.

Continue Reading

Trending