The Worst Idea Of All Time - 12: 1:08:02

Episode Date: February 4, 2026

Guy has fixed the movie and all it took was 4 watches of Joker 2 in one day. “It is a fantastic movie” - real quote from a man who has now seen Joker 2 a dozen times inside the last 4 days. Tim is giddy with excitement about the discovery and kindly requests that you give this revelation the respect it deserves. Stop what you’re doing - Listen to what the boiz have to say, because they just figured out how to fix Joker 2.Support our further discoveries (and see us perform standup in clown makeup) at twioat.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

idea of all time All right Everyone shut the fuck up Guy has fixed the movie Stop what you're doing Put all your stuff down Listen to what I know people listen to podcasts

And they're doing things Put the weights down Time to go to the drink station at the gym Or pull over on the side of the road Whatever the fuck is happening with the washing Just stop doing it Guys got something important to tell you Look it's

It's I feel cautious to share this with the world but I do believe that we have we've fixed the entire movie and it's crazy to think if you just stick at something for long enough

life finds away I'm Tim Bat I'm Guy Montgomery the reason we have clown face makeup on seems important but isn't right now we'll get to it later because we've got to deal with the most important facts first and the fact of the matter is

Guy has figured out how to fix Joker 2 one of the most famous cinematic blunders of the last 10 years. Yeah, it does seem we've just stress tested it like we've found a solution to what has been quite a confounding problem for us. And to qualify it a little bit, you know, we're pretty deep inside this thing now.

This is the fourth time we've watched the movie. movie today's so... And of itself is interesting, Tim, because what it tells me is perhaps previously we weren't watching the movie enough. Yeah, exactly, exactly. That is a possibility. It might be that watching it three times every day doesn't give you access to the level of insight required to figure out how to fix the movie.

And it does make sense. Like, if I was Todd Phillips, the maximum amount of times I'd be watching it a day is three. I'd never surpassed that. surpass that except us right now today. If anyone has a contact for Todd Phillips, I am itching to burn him a DVD that I will send with an anonymous

note that just says I fixed it. Fuck anonymity. Dude, you, we, I mean, to be like, look, you've come up with the precise time code. We have been dancing around

this concept for a few episodes now. Tell the people listening how you fix Joker 2 Foley at Dirt. Honestly, it's, when you hear it, you're going to kick yourself because it is so straightforward. It is the same way you should treat an orange. Like, you, honestly, if it happens to you, you won't believe, you know, how you miss this 11 times around. because all you've got to do is find whatever streaming platform you're watching it on or if you've got a video file open that up

and I just need you to take your cursor and put it at one hours one hour eight minutes and two seconds cut it in half and then just push play and I genuinely think you're going to to watch quite a groundbreaking and exciting piece of cinema. Ed, you will be shocked coming off the back of two men who have just been fucking winging about how bad this movie is, how high we are riding off of this revelation. Yeah. The movie is good now.

Yeah. It's actually a good movie. It's pretty fucking good. Yeah. It solves an unbelievable. A unbelievable amount of problems doing this. And the way we found it, it's a simple game. It's a game I think I actually learned off of.

I used to read a sports writer on ESPN page two. This is back on the old interface UI. And it was called the Boston sports guys called Bill Simmons. I believe he is now quite an influential figure in podcasting. I didn't follow him that far. At the very start, he talked about, it would quantify movies by discussing ones that you had turned on in a hotel room and what would you keep watching.

And so through multiple screenings of watching this movie, I've sort of had that thought knocking around in the back of my head because we've constantly, we've discussed the fact that it looks very good, that it is a, you know, it is a miracle how badly this movie plays considering how much they got right. Yes. And so with that in mind, I've always thought, well, there's so many different moments where I turned it on. I'd be intrigued to see what I'm watching.

And one of those specific moments is when Arthur Fleck is sitting, Joaquin Phoenix, he's sitting in the prison courtyard, and he's just, he looks kind of cool. He's got his hair slick back, he's smoking a cigarette, and he's on the bleachers, and he's just pointing his finger at different other inmates, and he's pretending to shoot them. A brilliant way to introduce a character.

It's a beautiful thing to see. And every time I've seen, like previous screens, I've seen that, and I've thought, I have logged it as if I was watching it in a hotel and this is the moment I turned it on in. I never shared this. I was like, I'd keep watching. Yeah.

And then I don't know what it was. Tonight, you know, I articulated it. You said it aloud. Sort of somehow. You staked a flag in the ground. Managed to stay with the movie long enough to keep the thought experiment alive. Like, I've described the ways...

I cannot express how on board I was. Yeah. We've expressed the ways this movie can move around you, can like... I guess the ways that our bodies have been rejecting the movie and the movie has been rejecting us, this was an instance where somehow it activated the room and basically we were then playing a game of watching the movie

trying to find the point at which it's no longer good. And I'll tell you what, it doesn't come. It is a fantastic, it is a fantastic movie. It is a fantastic movie in so many different ways because not only do you have all the benefits which we've been talking about the whole time, the thing looks slick as how it sounds good, it's got these interesting musical elements.

It's got fantastic performances by talented actors. But now, structurally, the movie is fixed, pace-wise. You have nothing but forward-moving action. The craziest thing I could say is the only criticism I genuinely believe that people could bring forward about the movie is that you want more of it. Yeah. Which has been unthinkable for as long as I've known this movie. Absolutely.

Because, so what exists now is a film that is, I think, an hour and ten minutes. Yeah, an hour and nine. Hour and ten including credits. Yeah, that counts. They add that, you know, they include that. So we've got a movie that's an hour and ten minutes. And there's something amazing about a movie that's an hour and ten minutes as well. And the same way that this movie takes big swings.

Yeah. It wants to be creatively interesting and inventive. Yes. It would actually be for like studios to start releasing. to understand what people want and start releasing movies. No one is upset by watching a movie that is less than two hours,

less than an hour and a half. I think so. There seems to be the soft rule with cinema-going experiences that your movie's got to be 90 minutes or it's not a movie. Cool. If you're looking to subvert expectations,

make a fucking kick-ass Joker sequel that is an hour 10. Guess what? You actually did it, but you buried it and a fucking horrible two-hour 20 minute version of the movie.

Yeah. So what you will get now is that you will start with Joaquin Phoenix sort of pointing and firing at people. Brendan Gleason will arrive. I mean, yeah. That's not important. No, no, no. This is all important because I think now we have never been better armed.

I don't think anyone on the face of the earth has been better armed to describe the movie you're getting now. Okay. It is common fair for us on the podcast to tell you what happens in the thing. we just saw we've not actually done that with this yeah you can now describe what the movie is yeah we've just stumbled upon it is you have uh arthur fleck sort of you know we've got it we've you don't actually know who he is because i mean i guess in the world you know you've bought a ticket to joker but you're watching a guy who's just pointing and firing at random inside of a

prison junkyard there's a guy next to him who is sort of uh some sort of acolyte and the guards show up Brendan Gleason's like, you know, get off our bleachers. And Ricky's like, who said that you're bleaches? And someone goes, Rick, what the fuck got into you? And that's in itself kind of intriguing. It's good. It's good. It's good.

And I'll tell you why it's good. Tell me why it's good. Because you are putting, there's so much world building and going, cool, we're in a yard, we're in the asylum, he's got a friend. So there's so much communication happening, like, in seven seconds. Also, we've established that we've dropped in on a moment of change. because the guard is going, what the fuck's got into you? Like, this is a regular behaviour.

We have started off in this journey, like something's afoot instantly, which is not how this movie works. Absolutely. And the cut that fucking Todd Phillips put out. So sorry, keep going on. No, no, no. Well, the next thing you see is he points at the guards and fires this pretend gun at them as well, which is deeply unsettling.

And we visibly see it communicator on Brendan Gleason's face, who previously in the Todd Phillips version of the movie, has been this very not in an enjoyably ambiguous, challenging way, this very kind of confusing like, frustratingly confusing character in the story.

Yes. With like subtle, he's a, with suggestions that he is an abusive free. Here's how you describe the character. He's a lovely prison guard who every now and then kills one of the inmates

and aimily rapes others. That's not what, like, you want, fuck, it's too confusing. Yeah, it's too confusing a character.

And you can make these, choices, you can deliberately challenge audiences, but you have to be in control. And the original Joker, too, is absolutely not in control. Correct. So there's a lingering shot, a lingering, unsettling shot on Brendan Gleason being unsettled. You then see Arthur Fleck sit down across from Lady Gaga. Who is, if you're a Lady Gaga fan recognizable? If you're not totally familiar with it, over it, just like a quite a greasy head

and curious person sitting across the other side of a perspective separator? Exactly. At a minimum, as a, you know, movie go, you're going, I know Oh Is that? I know But most people

would be like Whoa Lady Gaga's here Okay And they are having a conversation About the foundations of trust that they share

He is challenging her On her background He's accusing her Of lying to her She is successfully deflecting Telling Telling him that she is pregnant

That she has moved into the apartment building that he lived in And then This We just And I can't stress This enough

Such efficient Filmmaking And storytelling at this point Because you don't need to waste time in seeing her tell the story. Just show us how the story she told

originally is alive. Most excitingly, I think the biggest fix that we have, that we are offering, and I know I know it is unconventional for a movie that has failed at the box office this spectacularly to have a second commercial release so soon after it's

come out. But honestly, honestly, you've got to watch it how, well, don't watch the first 11 watches, but It started at one hour, two minutes and eight seconds. Because what it does now is it does it's the simplest note in movie telling. It's show don't tell. Nothing but. We have erased an hour and eight minutes of telling and we purely have.

What is incredible in watching the movie the way we have now is to see how we lose nothing. We miss nothing. Correct. We have exclusively made improvements. None of the context, none of the background, none of the information. None of the information provided in the first hour and eight minutes is worth anything, is useful, it just gets in the way of people being able to engage with what you have made. And now you have, we don't know that she is Harley Quinn.

She's just an intriguing person who is potentially lying and potentially in love and potentially pregnant with this inmate, which is like delightfully ambiguous. As a ticket buying audience member, you go, whoa, it's Lady Gaga. Oh, she's a love interest. Oh, she's a psychopath. So it's like, cool, we're constantly gaining new information. Very satisfying for us. And I do think, you know, well, I was just going to say,

you know, like one of the, people will be sensitive about being cut out, this much of their performance being cut out of the movie. Lady Gaga, I think, well, you know, she pursued this movie as a path to an Oscar. And what she didn't realize is that it was never going to happen because the way that it's edited and shown, this is a documentary about Joaquin Phoenix Method acting. So what she didn't realize is you could never win a Best Supporting Actress Award for a pairing in Joker 2 because it was submitted in the documentary category to the Academy Awards. So Lady Gaga, don't be upset we cut your scenes.

It was a non-starter. I'm so sorry. Be fucking stoked, you're eligible now. Okay. Yes, yes. We have solved another problem for you. There is uncertainty in their relationship to get him over the line and introduce the idea that these people might possibly be in love with each other. that Lady Gaga then sings in the scene, in the setting,

without any flourishes or glitzy touches. Which is going to the fucking note I gave the movie on the last watch is that in this version of doing a musical, each successive number should become more fantastical as it goes along. So great. First musical number, keep it grounded. Put me in this confined room. That's fine.

We're introducing the whole concept of it being a musical to the audience. Good. She sings close to you and guess what? It works. For the first time and 12 times, it works. Arthur Fleck is empowered by this back and forth. So empowered in fact that the next day when we see him in the courtroom... Well, and do we see him going back to Arkham Asylum at this point

and sort of doing his joker transformation or do we just go to the court scene there? We might see him before his trial the next day in the courthouse. sort of dancing to himself. In the afterglow of Lady Gaga singing close to you, he's sort of in the prison cell. We assume Joaquin is improvising some formerly annoying. Now, way more earned

like you've bought yourself a biscuit. The next thing you know, you're in the courtroom for the first time. Yes. And it's fucking awesome. This is good. We're not fucking around with the dude from industry who turns in a fine performance,

but the writing is dog shit of his part. And it adds nothing to the story. A cocksure young lawyer who we do not know is Harvey Dent Yeah because there's been a caron to fucking spoil everything That we could figure out as an audience If you just give us a chance and it'd be more satisfying A witness on the stand Who is from the first movie I understand

So that is satisfying to people who might enjoy this movie You're talking about a psychologist Sophie, yeah, the neighbour Okay Catherine Kenner who is his defence lawyer Then gets her turn Goes and talks to her And I'm so sorry Catherine that the majority of your bits have been cut as well

But do you know what Do you know what the fucking trade-off is for this? You were formerly in a dog shit movie and now you've got a smaller part and an incredible film. So we now enter the point at which Tim you have said this is when the movie should start

which is... I got close. He dismiss it. He has a fantasy. The first fantastical musical number, thank you very much. The theme song from Kath and Kim totally earned.

Everyone loves it. The Gaga fans love it. The comedy fans love it. People who don't have context for what show this song is from love it. Way to fucking go. violent is introduced. There are stakes.

He is the Joker. It is fantastical. It is exciting. It is interesting. It is intimidating. Core lyric of the chorus is the Joker is me. It is working on both a satirical and literal level. It's a little on the nose, but we'll allow it.

We will allow it. Because what we've seen so far is a propellant story with constant revelations, but enough ambiguity for us to enjoy as an audience. We're okay. We're in money. He pulls himself out of the fantasy and then says, I can't take it any. anymore and dismisses his lawyer, causing intrigue and bedlam in the courtroom by a room full of

supporters who, guess what, I now kind of understand why they might be rallying around this fascinating character. Because we haven't been exposed to an hour of a pathetic man named Arthur who doesn't really know who he is and doesn't possess any of the charisma or moral justification for existing that was presented in the first movie, which would garner him a fandom. Now we have this intriguing, mysterious, chaotic, powerful man who we don't know enough about to sort of dismiss out of hand who has garnered a fan base outside the courtroom.

He's back in the courthouse bars. Lady Gaga visits him. She's inspired by this movement. A mystery woman who loves him who we do not have any further information. Oh no. Incorrect. She is featured in the fantasy putting blood on her mouth. If you know it's Harley Quinn, fucking awesome.

If you don't, it still works and it's kind of interesting. And that's how comic book movie should fucking work! There's so much established law for you to be able to trust certain members of the audience to see a moment and go, oh, how satisfying for me. I saw a little thing that gave me enough clues to figure out that's Harley Quinn. For the rest of us, we're going, what an interesting thing she just did by putting eyes in the shape of makeup from a clown.

To think who we were one episode ago. Right? To think of the guys who were discussing this movie. I don't know who that happened. person is. Anyway, back to the movie. So we've got Harley Quinn revealing yourself to, I would say,

10 to 15% of the cinema-going audience at that point. More if they're fans of the, like possibly even half the audience. People who have read, read up, but either way, but again, this is more songs. No, it's more souls. It plays well either way.

Now you've got a movie that's like, Lady Gaga's in a Joker film and the next thing you hear is not, and it sucks. Yeah. Because people don't want to spoil films to everyone else. They just say,

Lady Gaga's in a Joker film and you should see it. Yeah. It's interesting. So Arthur Fleck leaves the courtroom. After this fantasy, after he's dismissed his lawyer, he returns to asylum and guess what? He has galvanized the prisoners in a scary kind of way. The guy we previously saw on the bleachers stands up, starts belting out when the Saints come marching in.

This is no longer the sixth time we have heard this refrain in the movie. Guess what? It's the fucking first. And it is intriguing. It is a hymn. It is a calling cry to the other inmates. It is intimidating to the guards who are freaking the fire. fuck out.

It fucking adds so much that the first time we see Proto Archim Asylum is in this absolute pressure cooker of an environment where we are forced to use big wide fish-eyed lenses to depict this very claustrophobic space where there are too many men running a muck on top of these guards. This is not a meek version of Arthur Fleck. Okay, this is Arthur Fleck fully jokerified. He's standing on the table doing his maniacal laugh. He's fucking Spartacus!

Yeah. He is Spartacus. He's fucking now he's Spartacus. So we have the introduction of a theme song for our anti-heroes, so the inpatients at Arkham Asylum. We've established the guards as being uncomplicated villains. I just have to tell you guys something that the next scene in the movie now fucking rips. It is like possibly the best scene in the movie.

And it comes at the perfect time because you are already enjoying the movie. It isn't like challenging you to engage with it to realize. it is good. It is satisfying that it is this good because guess what, the movie just might be this good. The movie might actually be better than what you expected and you went into the cinema hoping you'd enjoy yourself. Fucking Gary puddles what what consistently day in, day out. Morning, noon and night. Bringing the fucking noise for the boys. For the fucking victims in the first movie, he is communicating the impact of the psychotic behavior displayed by Joker, stroke Arthur reflect and he is doing it with dignity, grace and decorum while still breaking down in a way that

is totally compelling and believable. We have seen so many things already. We have seen revelations of characters that may or may not be pulled from the DC universe into this one. Lady Gaga piercing the veil between pop stardom and comic book royalty? Yes, please. Especially when depicted in a satisfyingly ambiguous manner thus. far but you know we haven't seen so far

why have we seen to well we've seen fantasy we've seen uh musical escapism depicted on the stage we've seen a little bit of courtroom drama but you know we haven't seen a deeply grounded vulnerable performance from an actor who has the fucking chops to pull it off that is so you are so

articulate you know sometimes you just say something and I just feel like I couldn't agree more and guess what the movie delivers on time with the next one's free Gary Paddles Waltz is on out there. We get a little guilty giggle at the fact that the movie, which is only an hour 10, is introducing a little person into the courtroom scene

and that the Joker is making fun of him being a little person. But you know what cuts through all of that? The fucking grounded performance of Barry Puddles. This is the other important detail in the scene is he is now not being interrogated by full Joker. So we have finally, instead of an hour and a half into Joker 2, been given our first glimpse of full Joker moving around the real world.

It's like, it's right at the fucking top. We're wall to wall Joker. That might be so, um, hmm, let me think, Tim, hmm, if I ordered a serving of Joker off the menu, maybe I'd like some of that flavor in my meal within the first couple of mouthfuls. Hmm, let me think. Yeah, that sounds pretty freaking nice. Yeah, here's a fucking crazy idea, Todd Phillips. If you're going to call you a movie Joker too, maybe put some fucking

Joker in it? Would they kill your dog? I don't think it would. It's not called Arthur. They already made that movie twice. I don't think it could hurt. And I'm telling you this from a place of love and knowledge. The Joker gives a very intriguing comedic performance,

bouncing from Foghorn Leghorn to British mimic, to authentic Arthur Fleck exposing his need to be recognized as a public and famous figure, which is purportedly what this movie is meant to reflect on. Here is what's so good about that fucking scene with the Guy Montgomery edited it starting an hour and two minutes and eight seconds. We have no four minutes and two seconds. Do not start this movie at an hour and two minutes, eight seconds. It will destroy everything we have promised you.

I'm so sorry. Don't worry about it. It can happen to anyone. If you've gone past the bleachers, you've gone too far. You must take the turn off at the bleachers. which is what we are privy to is Joker as a powerful entity as established in this edit of the film, performing some sort of charismatic and highly chaotic play over the courtroom. We don't know if this is a legal strategy that we haven't quite figured out in his 4D chess mind yet.

We don't know if he is so antithetical to the concept of the structure, that are put around around the justice system and the court system that he is outwardly disrespecting them because he's an anarchist either way we've got a winning fucking storyline pick a path they're all letting to gold absolutely it's also now believable

that the people who are crowded outside the courthouse and packing the courtroom genuinely are invested in and consumed by the charisma that this person can exude because until now I had no idea that that was the case but now absolutely it adds up Perfect. Harvey Dent, still don't know that's his name.

The state rests its case. Guess what? What's going to happen now? Who else rest their case? Yeah, the Joker. Wow, crazy! The defense also rests. It sends shockwaves through the courtroom and the news broadcasts.

Audible gasps. Audible gas in the room. The gallery is absolutely caught off guard by this maneuver. It is so moving that the camera slowly pushes in on Lady Gaga sitting but one row from the action. Adonned

I believe at this point in full Harley Quinn costume. Incorrect. Not yet Harley Quinn. Still a mystery to us. She's wearing that floral dress with the white collar.

I beg your pardon? She certainly is. Sorry, off you go. And they sing a little number that in the Todd Phillips edit they have been teasing without any context or reason for an hour and a half.

We're going to build a mountain from a little hill. Guess what? Todd, if you know that song is coming up in 90 minutes, that's fucking fine. But by you writing that sentence down in five different scenes of expositional dialogue when it doesn't make a jot of sense, it's not helping anyone. It is not impressing anyone that you can write a lyric into dialogue and then sing it an hour from now. If anything, it's kind of fucking frustrating. need to get too bogged down in the negatives here because what we have now, what we are left

with is an absolute fucking banger. And again, it is following the protocol of ascension of like fantasy and also fun we're having with these songs. It is my favourite number in the movie, okay? And it's coming to us, thick and fast. By rights, it can be. And it's not my position to police, but that scene has irritated me before, I will say. And under its new context, and an hour 10 runtime of the whole film. Justified earned. enjoyable. We call that JEE. It's G for joy. Now,

coming up after this, there is a wedding in this scene, okay? There is Lady Gaga absolutely sending it. We are getting value for money from her pipes and her piano playing skills. Everyone's appetite for everything they need, which is a lot, by the way, is still somehow being

sated. Arthur Fleck rides back to Arkham Asylum, riding high on his performance in the fact that he has consolidated his love, all be it through fantasy, but also believed by Harley Quinn, he's riding home, he's feeling pretty fucking good about himself, isn't he? He's listening to Top Loader or whoever originally sang the song, dancing in the moonlight in the car, and it doesn't even piss me off. Exactly. It doesn't even bother me. And look, I don't think we're going fucking overboard with

this. I don't think it would be on my radar if the first time that I've heard a commercial bit of music is him riding back home to Arkham Asylum in that cop car, a moment of sweet release he thinks he's crushed it it's like it's all good we're fine here i'm not questioning everything i've actually do you know what i've actually got an interesting amount of trust for todd phillips and i'm remembering how i felt the first time i saw the hangover and i'm remembering the first time i felt when i saw fucking road trip enthralled impressed intrigued if anything it kind of sounds like you're happy for him yeah i am i absolutely am i'm in safe pair of hand so like if you want to if you want to if you want to go right ahead i'm not even going to let joker have a little smirk on his face while he arrives

time to dancing in the moonlight. I say, Todd, I'm not even going to mark you down for flitting between diagetic and non-diagetic music three times with one song consecutively. It doesn't even fuck me off today because I'm fucking glad to be here. He goes to prison.

You'll never guess who he pissed off in his defense on TV. The guards, who he called fat and stupid. We know they're on high alert around him. We know they are sensitive to what he says. And guess what? It's antagonized them to the point of no. return. The music turns sinister. There are discordant minor chords coming through in either brass or

strings, possibly both. Either way, they're working their magic, brother. Things are getting fucking freaky. That's right. They haul him to an abandoned urinal in the asylum and very clearly, very explicitly violate that man. It is awful to watch and it makes fucking sense. Yes, it does because this is a movie where we have seen an upward essential of an anti-hero and you're thinking this guy's untouchable, he's unbelievable, charismatic, powerful. The woman love him, the jury's on his side. What could take him down? I'll tell you what could take him down. A justice system, which may in fact be an injustice system. That's for you as the viewer to decide. We've got a bunch of guards who violate this man. Admittedly, we have the information about this man. He's killed people

too. So there's enough, you know, we've got enough moral ambiguity, brewing all over the place to have fun with deciding who would... anyone's sinister behavior, but worse yet. They throw him into his cell. Yes, they do. And guess what? That same character, Ricky, we saw on the bleachers. We were wondering what the fuck got into him.

He starts belting out in solidarity and excitement. He doesn't know what's happened to Arthur. All he knows is he's seen the Joker, a very confusing and inspiring defense on television. He's fucking pumped up. He's saying, what have you done to Arthur? And then he's saying, oh, when the Saints come marching in, he's singing again, it's only the second time we've heard it.

I've not heard a guard sing it, so it's pretty. obvious to me, they might not like this calling card. Exactly! I'm so glad you brought that point up because this song is beaten you over the head when you're watching this film. And in the original edit, it doesn't make any sense because

it is adopted by both sides. However, if you have solely the inmates at Arkham Asylum bringing on, when the Saints come marching in, is their anthem, what it represents is there is a higher cosmic power that will balance the scales. That all of the injustice

that has been inflicted upon them, the abuse, the lack of care that has been given to these damaged individuals, it will be rebalanced in the end. The creator will come and find a way to serve justice to war. And yes, that is a concept that would freak the guards out and send them because they know that in a way they are also the bad guys. And karma will come to kick their ass. So what do they do?

They fucking overcorrect. And you'd better believe. Brendan Gleason is the real. right man for the job. They cast a dude who can basically do any role he fucking wants. Good Lord, he's good. Even in the larger edit of this film, he barely misses

a beat and he is one of the few people apart from Catherine Keener, who I can say that about. But he now is a great villain who we have a sort of general natural warmth too, but has depicted himself horribly on screen. We then

hear, not see, and again, beautiful choice. The mind is a more power. powerful conjurer of horrific imagery when we have the theatre of the mind rather than seeing exactly what is happening. What we do instead, and full credit to Todd, is we keep the camera nice and close on a barely lit Arthur Fleck. Not Joker because he has been disempowered, thrown in his cell, and he hears his friend being murdered at the hands of the guard. Absolutely. This would shatter the strongest of minds. It would shatter anyone on God's green earth. Harley Quinn, however, as she is now being introduced to us through the visual medium of storytelling, is having the fucking night of her life, because she has just watched the man she loves,

and the persona she loves deliver a romping, stomping, powerful statement of I'm here, I'm funny, get used to it. She is singing a song to herself, got the world on a string, sitting on a rainbow. She is putting on makeup, which finally distills and confirms the suspicion we have had, and she smared a blood smile on herself during the fantasy sequence in the courtroom that this is in fact Harley Quinn from the comic books, Joker's love interest

and a very terrifying woman indeed. She's on top of the world. Arthur Fleck is at the bottom of the fucking heap and you know we've got to go next on you. It's called the courtroom. Yeah, we're returning to the sexual drama of the film. I would quite like to go at this point if you'd be so kind, driver, the courtroom.

Absolutely. Because we've got to figure out what happens next because it is lovely to have these musical numbers to have an elevated sense of emotionality, but we actually need to get back to what's happening with the plot on planet Earth. Which is something I'm interested in, by the way. Exactly.

So we're back in the courtroom. And is this the scene where we get a verdict to deliver? No, no, no, no, no, sorry, this is the scene where we have a turning point. Okay, so is the guy so crucially mentioned. Strongest action sequence of the movie, the only action sequence of the movie. Well, okay, we have the ascension of Harley Quinn, and this is happening at a crucial time, because we're coming back to the courtroom.

We have closing arguments. Yeah, we actually see Harley Quinn walking through the masses into the courtroom to amplify the significance and the power and the meaning of the verdict that is about to be handed in. And now just in full DC universe accurate garb. And so we're in the courtroom and the judge, judge up is what we've been calling him. You'll never guess why. It's the cutest reason. he kind of looks like the old man from the movie up

he really does i don't believe him the first time but you got a couple of load in this judge he says closing statements and need i remind you this is uh not a comedy club you know tread carefully whatever the line is and the joker or arthur fleck in full joker Garb breaks down as anyone would based on what has happened in the previous 12 hours of his life. He breaks down and in doing so, Harley Quinn stands and leaves the courtroom as he is confessing to murdering his mother, as he is basically unfurling in front of us. The Joker is being killed in the courtroom by his own hand. This devastates Harley.

This is, I will concede, perhaps a slightly less earned moment. Not that it was earned in the longer version, but this does have him quite quickly. In the half-cote. Wow, sure. When you're dealing with a feature film, that's an hour, 10 minutes in total. We're not angry about it because no one's upset. No one's upset to get out of the cinema in under an hour and 20 minutes. That's right.

So he gives us a defense. She leaves. You hear shockwaves going through the courtroom again. And I'm so sorry, but just to put a real highlighter under it. Be Tim. Once again, as Guy has expressed here, and he said while we were watching, which I think is just so crucial, Harley Quinn is on the ascension at the exact same time

that the Joker is on the full descent destroying himself at the hands of his trap That's beautiful They're so neat They have not bored you into a position Where it is impossible to notice this Exactly Arthur Fleck returns to the courthouse bars

He makes his phone call to Harley He sings a pretty disappointing Still rendition Of if you go away It's not wrong What you're saying but again it is more earned in the context of this new cut. It makes sense in the world of the film.

I think it's the first time we see him do those really sort of underaccompanied. I'm going to call it moments where not only is there not a whole lot of instrumentation sending him, but we're grounded visually in the reality of where he is and his voice. Now listen, I'll just take a quick moment to return back to what Todd Phillips' original artist intent was. what you've got to know about the production of Joker 2, Folle Ed Dur, is that a lot of decisions were made to depict the vulnerability of the characters and the fragility of the psychopath couple. That included specifically the kind of recording they implemented

when laying down the vocals for these songs. Now, if you are Lady Gaga, that's not going to present a big issue because you have spent a lifetime training your voice. I believe she may even be a Juilliard graduate. However, if you are Joaquin Phoenix, who admittedly has carried a biopic in his past, centered around one of the most famous singers of our generation and our parents' generation Johnny Cash, interestingly, his still voice that is unvarnished has fragility to it.

It is a deliberate creative choice that the actors in this movie are singing beneath their singing ability, which is, I mean, an entirely different conversation for an entirely different watch. in this screening experience, it's not perfect, but it's earned and it works. And it's also the first time that I think we've seen it rather than the fourth

of Arthur being a pissy little weak boy. Instead, what I'm seeing is the Joker has crumbled down and revealed a damaged individual. I'm okay with that. You've earned the moment. I'm still on board. What you might want,

as Arthur Fleck in that moment, is the support of the woman you love and you understand to love you. What he does not know, is this is disgusting to Harley Quinn. This is pathetic. He is a shell of a man. She does not love the man.

She loves the myth. So she listens to this. She threatens to kill herself with a fault, like with a cap gun that is a broken trigger. We don't even worry about it because we're having such a good time wondering what's going to happen next. Next, he says on the phone call,

he's leaving a message. I think the jury's already reached a verdict. Next thing. He also says it took a totally thin an hour. I think we know how it's going to go. He's back in the courtroom. The jury are delivering their verdict, and guess what? Finally, an action sequence.

An explosion worthy of any film. Well, well, well, let's not shortchange our audience here. He has delivered a guilty verdict on all counts, which you kind of see coming because no legal defense was mounted, but you're just expecting some sort of magic to happen because it's the Joker that he legally would get out of this. And we've not seen... Oh my God, is this the movie where we see the Joker finally get fingered?

By the law? Quite how exhaustive the case against the Joker is. So he gets the guilty verdict. Across the board. There's an explosion of emotion in the courtroom because the parents and relatives and family and friends of the victims he starts laughing.

He does because this is his only emotional response to any charged situation. So they blow up at him and guess what else blows up? The entire fucking building. Explosion sequence beautifully executed discussed at infinitum on this podcast so far. Genuinely

a breathtaking, consistently satisfying piece of cinema. You know it, you love it. We need not labour the description of it. A bit of movie that works. We accelerate all the through a beautiful one shot that feels outstanding. Billy Joel in the car, audio levels being played with, the experience of being disoriented in the way that Arthur Fleckers, to the majestic steps that were made so famous in the first movie. Upon them at the very tippy top, as the lights turn on during his ascent, we see Harley Quinn. They have their final conversation. Not just Harley Quinn, I might add, but a new, well, an ascended version of Harley Quinn where I feel like she has taken a little bit more agency herself.

She has cut her here. Because when you are dealing in the realm of cinema, everything need be visual. So when you are showing a transformation of a character and you are showing rather than telling, there are certain things you can use in your arsenal. One of those things is changing the characters here. Absolutely. Which Arthur Fleck notices out loud as if to say you've changed. Not just you here has changed, but something has changed upon you. Here's how it goes from here.

I'm going to keep it brief for you. I love you. I don't love you. You killed the Joker. I love you. I'm singing a song. Please don't sing. I'm going back to the asylum.

Stab, stab, stab. We'll see you next time. Oscar. Yeah. For Todd. Probably not for anyone else because an hour 10 runtime does seem a little bit rude to start rewarding actors. I don't know.

I don't know. What about this? It's not just a film we've said. 70 minutes. Dude, we could have saved cinema, okay? An hour 10, these shorter movies, tickets, arguably slightly cheaper, assuming the films are only aiming to be this long. Not only that guy Montgomery,

but people are actually going to want to see this fucking thing. Abs of fucking looting. People are going to the cinema all of a sudden. The cinemas are alive. We're not worrying about this nationwide, global-wide, dearth and dying of independent cinemas that is running this fucking shit into the ground.

We have just solved Hollywood. And all it took, all it took was 12 screenings of Joker 2 and a face full of muck. We'll see you on the next fucking episode. There's more of this. You better believe. Okay, fine. I was going to save this for later, but you're right.

That's too important. We weren't sure it changed them. Oh. What are you going to do? I'll tell you what. Oh, yeah, we had lights and ratings and all sorts of business to get to. You're about to open up an entire different kind of words. I am because this is important.

and very connected to what we've discovered on this episode. I am so confident in what Guy has tripped over in this 12th viewing fourth today of Jokatoo, Follow your Dear, that we need to audience test this thing. We need to do the thing that Warner Brothers never did and always should have. We need to get this in front of a public who has not been exposed to the text and we need to A, B, test this thing. The first thing I need to say to you, the listener and to you, Tim Bat. the instigator is if you are privy to this conversation, you are ineligible,

which leaves us in... Dude, dude, you don't know how much I'm going to do before this episode comes out, okay? Wheels are in motion, motherfucker. There is going to be some audience test screenings of this movie, something that Todd Phillips should have been able to say in his life at some point. Joker 2 is going to get a public airing.

and 50% of the audience is going to see the Todd Phillips edit, and 50% of the audience is going to see the edit that we think makes a great film. And we are going to get some ratings from this cinema-going audience, and we are going to compare notes. And we're going to deliver it back in an earnest scientific way. I read, if this project has not shown anything else, it has proven, hopefully, to you, that we have more integrity,

than anything else. I've always said that we have more integrity than talent, and that has never felt more true than right now. So I would like to think at this point, we have brought ourselves a little trust in the audience that when we present the results of the audience screenings to you, you're going to know that what we did was on the level, okay? This is the important work that we may have been joking,

about earlier, but I actually think now we need to conduct. It is amazing how if you just persist with something, the path will appear. Reveal itself. It will reveal itself. So all that to say, shining light was the whole thing. Shining light was the whole thing? Two thumbs up. Good Lord.

Two thumbs up from me also. Of course. shining light I did write down Let me just consult the notes For the first time in this episode I actually wrote down a couple This time it is going to be Hmm

Hmm I think both moments got cut Unfortunately So you know what Don't need a shining light Or a different kind of light Because the movie was really fun And I enjoyed it a lot

To everyone who's been with us I like the duration. You know what? Diffringana live was for me. 70 minute feature film, yum. To everyone who's been following along this season, I would just like to say, I bet you fucking didn't see that coming.

The worst idea of all time!