The Gorko Gazette

Gorko Entertainment Editor Mitchell Kennedy takes invisible anvil and tongs to the new Warmer Brothers film Joker: A Goddess Called Foley (2024).

SPOILER ALERT: THE MOVIE IS NOT TITLED A GODDESS CALLED FOLEY but Folie à Deux. IT IS JUST THAT MITCH DOES NOT KNOW ANY FRENCH. WE ALSO HAPPEN tO KNOW THAT our man HAS NOT actually SEEN THE MOVIE YET. see, he pocketed HIS MOVIE ALLOWANCE this week because he is on a bit of a foot-long hotdog roll. you know, the new place on gardenia, Chilidog Charley’s. in any case, we approved this review.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: MIMES, CLOWNS, death

My movie dog @Todd is terrified of clowns and mimes. This is a real phobia certified by our doggycologist Susan Rosterfort, and has serious real-life implications. For example, Ampersat Tee will curl up into a little defensive ball every time we are accosted by the Peoria Blackhearts, the mime gang that infests Fayette Street below Dunkin’s across the street from Patty’s Poutine by the Peoria I Heart Cineplex where the devil children carouse inside their invisible boxes, and it makes it very difficult to complete our cardio routine on Tuesdays. To be completely frank, it has also created in me, a normally compassionate and empathetic human being full of love for persons from all walks of life, races, and orientations, a hateful abhorrence for this type of street scum. It has in fact convinced me of the next steps to be taken against the scourge of the clown posse, seeing such detestable vermin be tolerated, yea even abetted by Peoria’s Finest. That is right. We must now take matters into our own hands, and enforce vigilante justice on the face paint quiet clowns, and exterminate them voiceless scream by voiceless scream, if we wish to finally cleanse Peoria of their ilk, and live again without fear for our puppies.

Ha, ha, ha. That is in fact not me, Mitchell Kennedy, famous movie reviewer talking, but the villain of the surprisingly upbeat musical-cum-violence Joker: A Goddess Called Foley, a mime-hating mad scientist and jurisprudence expert called just Dr. Rooney. (We bet he is Charles to his friends.) It is unclear which of the Warmer Brothers was responsible for translating the subtitle into what appears to be French, risibly titling it Joker: Folie à Deux. Ha ha ha, ha ha ha! Well me and @Todd translated it back, so there.

Joker: A Goddess Called Foley follows the trial lawyer Foley Massachusetts (try typing that ten times fast! whew!) as she battles the cynical and corrupt Gotham City legal system that has imprisoned her client, Foulsome Rugers, a man who claims he has no memory of the crimes that landed him in the Gotham clink.

‘But you murdered seventy-four innocent people in 2020,’ sings (yes, much of the dialogue is sung) the flustered but beautiful Foley, played by the ever-ethereal Jackie Ropes, but to hear or rather OBSERVE the anti-hero mime’s reply you will have to see the movie yourself! I hope it is not too much of a spoiler to say that Foley eventually melts into the arms of the maligned, though even the kissy-face is only mimed.

This is also an uncomfortable movie to sing along to if you are weighed down by a lot of snack and drinks, which is why I recommend you get your poutine with extra gravy from Patty’s before the show, and limit yourself to just a medium popcorn and the prerequisite packet of Cookie Dough Nuggets, and of course a large Diet Coke to whet the whistle. Yes this is a musical, yes there are many scenes of over-the-top, incredibly gory cop-on-clown violence, but do not think that this is your typical superhero-meets-slasher. For Joker: A Goddess Called Foley is at heart a love story.

The production is exquisite, with gaudy sets and costuming, and the miming is performed adequately by Wahkeen Feenux in his role as Foulsome. (What mother would name her boy Foulsome, you may ask? It turns out that this mime is an orphan!) It may strike you as a strange decision to frame the story of a down-and-out voiceless character in a musical, yet the silent singing is one of the most haunting elements of this pulpy Pagliacci picture.

How well did Mitchell actually like Joker: A Goddess Called Foley, you are likely asking yourself? Well he gives this movie a whopping four out of five puppies, keeping one puppy for himself because of the lackluster ending. But to find out what happens in this disappointing scene, a scene that actually spoils the entire film, however, you will have to watch it yourself.

ABOUT MITCHELL KENNEDY

Mitchell Kennedy (M.F.A. Film Studies 1984, Leonard University) is the Gorko entertainment editor. He writes the weekly film column Mitch’s Movie Mash with his puppy Ampersat Todd.