Francis Ford Coppola didn’t think Joker 2 was a Folie À dud
In its eternal quest to upend expectations and give fans something particularly twisted, Joker: Folie À Deux has pissed off fans and critics alike. Even those who enjoyed Todd Phillips' first unpleasant jaunt through Gotham seem disappointed by the director's desire to withhold anything remotely entertaining in his long-awaited sequel. In his review for The A.V. Club, critic Jesse Hassenger called it an "almost a perverse joke aiming to dissatisfy everyone."
However, one person who liked the movie is another filmmaker often accused of turning $200 million into art projects for an audience of one: Francis Ford Coppola. Taking to Instagram and relishing the opportunity to be the one person willing to say they liked Joker 2 publicly, Coppola stood firm against the culture and praised Phillips' film. It was a brief pause from the critical and commercial drubbing his movie Megalopolis is taking, a moment of unity among besieged filmmakers. Coppola, an admitted fan of "the wonderful The Hangover," wrote that Phillips has a knack for staying "one step ahead of the audience, never doing what they expect." Coppola also thanked Joker cinematographer Lawrence Sher for taking influence from one of Coppola's earliest bombs, One From The Heart.
Joker opened well below expectations this weekend, with estimates placing the film at $40 million domestically, more than half of its predecessor, but within Morbius' opening weekend. That probably wouldn't be a problem if the first movie hadn't won two Oscars and grossed over a billion dollars worldwide. This one also reportedly cost $200 million, which is a sticking point for some. Coppola must feel some kinship with Phillips as he, too, is licking his wounds from a recent box office disaster. His long-gestating $127 million Megalopolis made $4 million in its opening weekend. It's an unlikely pair, being that one is a $200 million comic book adaptation of one of pop culture's most iconic and beloved characters, and the other is a "fable" about a city planner who dares to ask, "Why don't we just make utopia out of Megalon?" But Coppola's fandom for the Wolfpack is unshakable. We can only hope that, one day, the Godfather director goes back to the club and shares his take on Road Trip.