AILSA CHANG, HOST:
And now, two movies that take laughter seriously - "Joker: Folie a Deux," starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, and "Saturday Night," recreating the very first night of "Saturday Night Live." Critic Bob Mondello says the two films are differently theatrical and pointedly insane.
BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: "Joker: Folie a Deux" starts with a Joker-style "Looney Tune"...
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MONDELLO: ...An appropriately violent and stylized way to lay in Joker's backstory - the childhood abuse and scary clown murder spree that landed Arthur Fleck in a mental institution. Then we meet Arthur in his cell...
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JOAQUIN PHOENIX: (As Arthur Fleck) Let's go boys. It's showtime. Wakey, wakey.
MONDELLO: ...Being taunted by guards.
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Hey, Fleck, you got a joke for us today?
MONDELLO: The joke, as it happens, will be on moviegoers who don't know they've signed on for a full-blown musical. Joaquin Phoenix, skeletal and haunted, is every bit as eerie as he was while winning an Oscar in the first "Joker." But this time, a fellow patient, Lady Gaga's Harley Quinn, sparks something in him...
PHOENIX: (As Arthur Fleck, singing) When you're smiling...
MONDELLO: ...Musical fantasies that offer him escape and offer her access to his fame.
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LADY GAGA: (As Harley Quinn) When I first saw Joker, when I saw you...
PHOENIX: (As Arthur Fleck, singing) The whole world smiles with you.
LADY GAGA: (As Harley) ...For once in my life, I didn't feel so alone anymore.
MONDELLO: Both characters are psychopaths, obsessed with celebrity and chaos.
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LADY GAGA: (As Harley Quinn) You should see it out there. They're all going crazy for you.
MONDELLO: Read into that whatever real-world parallels you like. Director Todd Phillips channels their yearnings into initially whispered show tunes.
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LADY GAGA: (As Harley Quinn, singing) Hallelujah, come on, get happy.
LADY GAGA AND JOAQUIN PHOENIX: (As Harley Quinn and Arthur Fleck, singing) Get ready for the judgment day.
MONDELLO: ...That erupt into ever darker production numbers. Gaga has to pull way back to make these work, while Phoenix really puts himself out there, both singing and, at one point, tap dancing.
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PHOENIX: (As Arthur Fleck) I've got the sneaking suspicion that we're not giving the people what they want.
LADY GAGA: (As Harley Quinn) It's OK, baby.
MONDELLO: I mean, that's entertainment.
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LADY GAGA: (As Harley Quinn) Let's give the people what they want.
MONDELLO: As to whether any of this adds to your understanding of the characters - not really, nor is it what you call rousing, though it's certainly beautifully staged. "Joker: Folie a Deux" maybe is a folly, but credit the filmmakers with taking a big swing and crossing up genre expectations. And in the world of comic book movies, that should count for something.
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) We need everyone in togas. Everyone down to the 8th floor now.
MONDELLO: From "Joker" to jokester - specifically, in Jason Reitman's comedy "Saturday Night," the young comedians whose brand of counterculture insanity transformed late-night television 49 years ago next week.
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BRIAN WELCH: (As Don Pardo) Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, Dan Ay - how the f*** do you pronounce this?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) Aykroyd.
MONDELLO: The film starts as the cast is gathering and still signing contracts at 10 p.m., 90 minutes before their debut. The show is so unheralded that the NBC doorman doesn't even know about it.
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GABRIEL LABELLE: (As Lorne Michaels) My name is Lorne Michaels. I'm the producer of "Saturday Night."
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character) The whole night?
LABELLE: (As Lorne) Yeah, the whole night.
MONDELLO: Michaels has proposed a mix of sketches, spoof commercials and music all performed live, a format now so common on cable shows that it's hard to imagine how foreign it seemed to button-down broadcasters in 1975...
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #5: (As character) Rocky (ph), there's no way these kids are going to hit their marks, so you better be wide enough to catch them all.
MONDELLO: ...Especially to the skeptical NBC exec who's got 50 affiliates in town.
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LABELLE: (As Lorne Michaels) Gentlemen, how long have you been standing there?
WILLEM DAFOE: (As David Tebet) Long enough.
MONDELLO: He's an old hand who's entirely prepared to cut to a rerun of "Johnny Carson" if - or the way he's figuring it, when - all else fails.
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DAFOE: (As David Tebet) I can only imagine what must be running through your mind, the thought, no matter how improbable, that you might not make it today.
LABELLE: (As Lorne Michaels) Hadn't even occurred to me.
DAFOE: (As David Tebet) Really? I heard that you were having some technical difficulties.
LABELLE: (As Lorne Michaels) None that I know of.
DAFOE: (As David Tebet) Your writers were stoned. Your actors were physically assaulting each other.
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DAFOE: (As David Tebet) The sound system was down, and a fire broke out earlier.
MONDELLO: All true.
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DAFOE: (As David Tebet) I'm sure you have it all under control.
MONDELLO: He does not. The crazy is considerable, and filmmaker Jason Reitman recreates it with a terrific cast based on interviews with everyone still around who would talk to him about it.
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LABELLE: (As Lorne Michaels) We just have to make it air.
MONDELLO: He started with an advantage. His father, director Ivan Reitman, worked with quite a few of these "Saturday Night Live" legends. Still, the task was daunting - finding folks who looked and sounded enough like John Belushi, Andy Kaufman, Laraine Newman and the rest, who could also act and do comedy. To a gratifying extent, he's managed, with the result that "Saturday Night" feels live. I'm Bob Mondello.
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