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This past Monday morning, Warner Bros. faced the music.
Or itwouldbe cool, if he had genuinely committed to that pivot.
Phillips has made a jukebox spectacle thats bold in conception but oddly cautious, even timorous, in execution.
WatchingFolie a Deux, you keep waiting for Phillips to swing for the rafters.
But the musical numbers inFolie a Deuxdont escalate much from here.
Most of the songs tumble out of the actors mouths softly and haltingly.
The selection makes narrative sense; you could imagine Arthur growing up on this music.
Folie a Deuxwont let its theatrical freak flag fly on a visual level either.
The staging remains perched on the edge of extravagance, only flirting with splendor.
But the sequence is over before its barely begun.
The dancing is sporadic, the choreography limited.
Several numbers unfold on a darkened soundstage illuminated by a spotlight.
Others simply lock in close on the actors as they warble away.
But maybe the real failure of imagination is on Phillipss part, not Arthurs.
And is it more a failure of nerve?
It had better musical numbers, regardless of whether Phillips coded them that way.
Its easy to imagine, in fact, a brasher jukebox musical modeled on it.
A more #twistedMoulin Rouge.
Folie a Deux, in other words, needed to go for it more.
It never seems to totally get past the rough-draft idea of itself.
Why do the big Joker musical if you dont really want to do the big Joker musical?
Its the one note this sequel hits well.
As any clown worth his salt will tell you, you have to commit to the bit.
