“At the Imax opening night screening of 'Joker 2'”

During an editorial meeting on Thursday, a diversity The editor asked if anyone would be willing to sacrifice their Friday night to write an article about the premiere of Joker: Folie à Deux. After an endless silence with no takers, I reluctantly raised my hand. In Todd Phillips' previous Joker, I watched Joaquin Phoenix transform from a place of honor into the titular Clown Prince of Darkness during the world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in a theater full of journalists and VIPs. This would be a very different experience if I was sandwiched in the middle of the sweaty fanboy crowd. Turns out I was wrong.

Thinking that a Friday night screening at the Grove would provide a good template for how the “Joker” sequel plays across the country, I headed to the ticket booth. Twenty minutes before showtime, seats were available for a regular showing at this popular AMC theater. Only a handful of seats were taken. How could that be? It would be another 12 hours before the film's dismal “D” CinemaScore was revealed.

I asked a helpful employee who didn't seem surprised. “Prime and Dolby tend to sell out. If that's okay, the tickets are a little more expensive,” suggested the young woman. When asked if she planned to see the film, she deadpanned: “I was until I saw the reviews.”

A Dolby screening was about to begin, trailers were still playing. Once again I was shocked that tickets were still available. So I looked at options for an IMAX screening in 45 minutes. Finally, the free places were limited, but still plentiful. I would have liked a seat near the exit. (It's a Joker movie, after all, and the Aurora shooter disguised as a deranged villain is still fresh in our memories.) Unfortunately, a seat in the middle of the aisle would have to suffice.

I had time to kill, so I walked toward the guests leaving earlier screenings and stopped to grab a free poster of Phoenix and his co-star Lady Gaga descending a steep staircase. The image was reminiscent of the key image from the 2019 version, which showed the Joker crying as a madman in heaven at the top of a staircase in Gotham City. Six USC students had just exited an IMAX version and seemed eager to share their impressions.

“I liked that better than 'Megalopolis,'” said a young man named Matthew. (I'm not sure if that's a compliment or an insult.)

Matthew's girlfriend Grace came for Gaga and was not disappointed. “It was definitely fun. I'm not sure if it was intentional, but I laughed,” she said.

Another young man named Landon, wearing a matching T-shirt that read “Only Anarchists Are Pretty,” noted the lack of fanboys at the screening.

“I haven't seen any comic book-like people – like Marvel or DC, right?” he said. “The first one had a lot of like 'wink wink' or something like that, 'little Bruce Wayne.' That doesn't exist here, does it? It's like the demographic you would expect to show up. But it makes sense when you consider that it's just as much about talking as “Lincoln.” It's basically the same movie as 'Lincoln.'”

These reviews don't bode well for a $200 million film that needs to appeal to all four quadrants. Speaking of budget, Matthew doesn't see the huge capital expenditure on screen.

“They gave him a blank check, so to speak,” he says of Warner Bros. “It cost $200 million and it's in about four locations.” And I asked myself: Where did the money go? Gaga and Phoenix probably and stuff Prison cells.”

As I made my way to Seat F11, I surveyed the crowd and immediately wondered if I was in the right room. The vast majority of guests were couples – straight, gay, young, middle-aged – holding hands and cuddling for a movie in which the titular psychopath would soon bash a judge's head with a hammer until his brain tissue was over the top running. In fact, I haven't seen so many couples in a theater since How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days premiered. Nobody was dressed as the Joker. The only masks were the Covid cloth masks.

The couple to my right – two men – sit down in two empty seats to my right after the caravans end. But a minute into the film, another couple appears – a man and a woman – and wants to take their rightful place. They're standing right in front of me arguing, and I miss most of the animated intro. As soon as the heterosexual couple settles into their seats, they start behaving busy. Really busy. Kissing, talking, completely ignoring the movie. At one point they were spooning with their seats fully reclined – the woman's (and man's) hand reaching into my territory. My fears of catching a stray mass shooter were replaced by contracting a sexually transmitted disease through proximity.

The hall (still not full) was full throughout the entire screening constant Movement. People come, people go. To the toilet, to the snack stand, just stretching your legs during the 2:19 running time. A few strikes. It felt busier than LAX, where I had landed just hours before. Despite all the hustle and bustle, this was the least energetic crowd I've seen in a long time. No cheers. No laughter at the few jokes.

Before the screening, the gay couple to my right agreed to give me their full take on the film after Joker ended. But the second the credits rolled, they, along with most of the theater, made their way to the exit. Only about five people watched as the hundreds of people working on this ambitious project were filmed here in their hometown.

I made my way to the only one who looked like a potential fan with an empty bucket of popcorn in his hand as the lights came on. I miscalculated. Tedashii was by no means a self-proclaimed fanboy. He simply liked the first film and went on another outing full of blatant nihilism. “Long but entertaining” was his overall review. But he also struggled with the other theatergoers and their lack of interest in the film itself.

“There were people next to me whispering and talking, hugging and kissing. And I'm just like, 'Why are you spending $50 plus concessions to come here and watch?' I mean, the judge is literally getting hit in the back of the head. And once it's done, they whisper. And then they tell a joke and then he kisses her. And I just thought: What’s happening next to me?”