Wednesday, July 22, 2026

“Joker 2” Panned By Critics but Even Audiences Don’t Like It, Give $200 Mil Bomb a 37% Rating!

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UPDATED Forget the critics. Audiences don’t like “Folie a Deux” either. Over 500 audience members have filed their reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Their average is just 37%. This is unheard of in comic book movies, where at least the fans want to see them!

Warner Bros.’ $200 million “Joker: Folie a Deux” could be a disaster no one saw coming.

On Rotten Tomatoes, critics have given it a lowly 39%, with most Top Critics eviscerating Todd Phillips’ sequel to his hit movie. They say it’s dull and directionless.

Only Lady Gaga has survived, with critics saying her musical moments enliven the proceedings.

In the end, Gaga’s soundtrack may be the only success story here.

Joaquin Phoenix stars as the incarcerated, crazy Arthur Fleck.

Associated Press: Phillips has followed his very anti-hero take on the Joker with an a very anti-sequel. It combines prison drama, courthouse thriller and musical, and yet turns out remarkably inert given how combustible the original was.

Newsday: A listless, depressing “musical” that seems to hate its characters, and itself.

Vanity Fair: It’s startlingly dull, a pointless procedural that seems to disdain its audience.

Warner Bros. rolled the dice big time on this one. Now they’ll have to count on fans who don’t care about reviews. Preview shows tonight are very sold out, so the critics might not make a difference.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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