Movies Like Joker

Frequently asked about Joker

Common questions people search for, with answers written by us at MoviesPack.

• What makes Joker 2 so bad?▾

  Joker: Folie a Deux was widely criticized for its slow pacing, an unconventional jukebox-musical structure that many viewers found jarring, and a divisive ending that undercut the first film's setup. Critics and audiences also felt it lacked the focus and tension of the 2019 original, with Arthur Fleck reduced to a more passive character.

• Is Joker 2019 a hit or flop?▾

  Joker (2019) was a major hit. Made on a budget of around $55-70 million, it grossed over $1 billion worldwide, becoming the first R-rated film to cross that mark, and won Joaquin Phoenix the Academy Award for Best Actor.

• Is Joker 2 a good movie?▾

  Joker: Folie a Deux received largely negative reviews, with a Rotten Tomatoes score in the low 30s and a CinemaScore of D, and it underperformed at the box office. Opinions vary, but the critical and audience consensus rates it well below the original.

• Did Lady Gaga get along with Joaquin Phoenix?▾

  By all public accounts Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix got along well on Joker: Folie a Deux. Both spoke positively about each other in interviews, with Gaga praising Phoenix's process and Phoenix complimenting her commitment to the role.

• Is Arthur Fleck's relationship with Sophie real?▾

  No, the relationship is almost entirely a delusion. When Arthur lets himself into Sophie's apartment uninvited, she doesn't recognize him and is frightened, revealing that scenes of them dating, her attending his stand-up set, and visiting him in the hospital were hallucinations. It's one of several cues that Arthur is an unreliable narrator throughout the film.

• Why does Arthur kill his mother Penny?▾

  After reading her psychiatric file at Arkham, Arthur learns Penny adopted him and allowed her boyfriend to abuse and starve him as a child, causing the brain trauma behind his pathological laughter. He also concludes her claim that Thomas Wayne is his father was a delusion. Feeling that his entire identity was built on her lies, he smothers her in her hospital bed.

• What is the condition that makes Arthur laugh uncontrollably?▾

  Arthur suffers from pseudobulbar affect, a neurological condition that causes sudden, uncontrollable episodes of laughing or crying disconnected from his actual emotions. The film implies it was caused by head trauma from the childhood abuse he endured while tied to a radiator. He carries a printed card explaining the condition to strangers when episodes occur.

• Why does Arthur kill Murray Franklin live on air?▾

  Murray had publicly mocked Arthur by airing his failed stand-up routine to humiliate him on television, then invited him on the show expecting more of a punchline than a guest. On air, Arthur confesses to the subway murders and blames a society that abandons people like him, declaring that he gets what he deserves only because Murray treated him as a joke rather than a person. Shooting Murray is his rejection of being anyone's entertainment ever again.

• How does Arthur's act trigger the Gotham riots and connect to Batman's origin?▾

  After Arthur kills three drunk Wayne Enterprises employees on the subway, Thomas Wayne goes on TV calling the city's underclass "clowns," which galvanizes a protest movement that adopts clown masks as its symbol. The chaos culminates in a rioter gunning down Thomas and Martha Wayne in an alley while young Bruce watches, directly tying Arthur's actions to the creation of Batman. Arthur, riding atop a police car covered in blood, is hailed as the movement's icon.

• Is the ending in Arkham real, and did Arthur do everything we saw?▾

  The film deliberately leaves this ambiguous. Arthur is shown laughing in an Arkham interview room saying the joke is something the doctor "wouldn't get," then leaving bloody footprints down the hall, suggesting some or all of the preceding events may have been a fantasy he invented while institutionalized. Director Todd Phillips has hinted that the "real" Joker of Gotham may not even be Arthur, framing him instead as the inspiration for the figure Batman will later face.