Joker: Folie a Deux has a famous fan in Quentin Tarantino

Todd Phillip’s much-derided Joker sequel, Joker: Folie a Deux, will likely never make back its budget, was slapped with a soul-destroying D audience score and 32 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, but it has at least one influential fan.

Quentin Tarantino has come out swinging in defence of what will shape up to be one of the biggest flops of the year.

The filmmaker and provocateur was a guest on Bret Easton Ellis’s podcast when he proclaimed that he “really, really liked it, really, a lot”. Just so you know he’s not equivocating.

Tarantino said, “I went to see it expecting to be impressed by the film-making but I thought it was going be an arms-length, intellectual exercise that ultimately I wouldn’t think worked like a movie, but that I would appreciate it for what it is.

“And I’m just nihilistic enough to kind of enjoy a movie that doesn’t quite work as a movie or that’s like a big, giant mess to some degree. I didn’t find it an intellectual exercise, I really got caught up in it.”

Joker: Folie a Deux sees Joaquin Phoenix reprise his role as the villain Arthur Fleck, who is now in prison awaiting trial for the multiple murders he committed in the first film. There, he meets Harleen “Lee” Quinn (Lady Gaga), who he is entranced by.

Together, they escape into imaginary shared interludes staged like song-and-dance numbers from old-school musicals. The musical elements were a surprise to some fans and were a sticking point in many of the critiques against it.

In the four weeks since its release, the film has just limped over the $US200 million mark at the global box office. With a reported production budget of $US190 million plus marketing costs and exhibitors’ cuts, it needed to make upwards of $US450 million to break even.

It was also the first superhero movie to earn a rare D Cinemascore from opening weekend audiences in the US.

After its disastrous first weekend when it missed key projections by a significant distance, it emerged that Phillips, who co-wrote and directed the sequel, had little oversight from the studio, Warner Bros.

Phillips distanced his film from Warners’ DC Studios unit, insisted that there be no test screenings and also premiered the movie at the Venice Film Festival, where it was not reviewed well, despite internal objections.

Tarantino seemed to have enjoyed how much grief Joker: Folie a Deux had caused the industry and the franchise’s fans. He likened Phillips to the chaos-wreaking character of his film.

“The Joker directed the movie. The entire concept, even him spending the studio’s money – he’s it like the Joker would spend it, all right?,” Tarantino added.

“He’s saying f**k you to all of them. He’s saying f**k you to the movie audience. He’s saying f**k you to Hollywood.

“Todd Phillips is the Joker.”

The first Joker was released in 2019 and made over $US1 billion at the box office. It was a controversial film that divided audiences over its nihilism and seemingly sympathetic portrayal of toxic, violent male behaviour.

Those same audiences that flocked to the first film because they felt an affinity to the Joker character are often the most critical of the sequel.