Movies are art and art is a subjective experience. In short, not everybody is going to agree on what constitutes a good movie. Having said that, there is frequently a general consensus among people that results in a movie being labeled as good or bad. While Joker was broadly seen as a good movie, the recent sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux was not. That’s not to say that it doesn't have some fans, including a high-profile one in Quentin Tarantino.
Back in October, The Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood, the director appeared on the Bret Easton Elison podcast and revealed that, while he didn’t expect to like Joker 2, he actually appreciated a great deal about it. The fact that a writer and director whose movies are generally seen as good, if not great, liked a movie that many see as bad, was certainly noteworthy. However, appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience Tarantino had words for the people critical of his opinion, and most of those words were expletives. The director said…
I go on a show and I said that I like Joker 2. I say I like Joker 2, now there’s 150 articles that come out, all these cannibalized articles. One person listens to the thing and writes an article about it and then there’s 150 ripoff articles on that. And then you read the comments: ‘Quentin is a fucking asshole. That movie fucking sucks. He’s a fucking asshole for saying that.’ Why am I a fucking asshole? I liked the fucking movie! That makes me a fucking asshole? You either like the movie or you don’t. I’m not plugging the movie. I’m not doing anything. I’m just saying I like it. Who gives a fuck what I like? What do you care what the fuck I like?
It’s one thing to be curious what a high-profile filmmaker like Quentin Tarantino thinks of a high-profile film, but it sounds like some of the responses to the news that he liked Joker: Folie à Deux went beyond interest and into criticism. The Joker movies were both somewhat controversial, with there even being some fear, real or imagined, that the first Joker might instigate violence. It seems that stating you like or dislike the movies puts you on one side or another of a debate.
But it’s not limited to what Quentin Tarantino likes or doesn’t like. He says he’s also received criticism for movies he’s never seen. He has just as many f-words for those people, saying…
Then I’ll say I didn’t see something. ‘He’s a fucking asshole.’ What do you care what I see or don’t see? What the fuck do you fucking care?’ Someone will say something like, ‘Well I think he’s fucking missing out.’ Well, I am sure there is a lot of shit I could say you’re missing out on and I don’t care if you miss out on.
This would seem to be a reference to another podcast interview Tarantino gave this year in which he revealed that, while thinks the first three Toy Story movies are some top-level films, calling Toy Story 3 the best movie of 2010, he finds the trilogy complete, and thus has never bothered to see Toy Story 4 even though the film is generally regarded to be quite good.
Quentin Tarantino is an accomplished filmmaker and a student of the medium, and so I think that what movies he likes or dislikes is certainly worthy of conversation, but criticism certainly crosses a line. There are an infinite number of reasons why we like or dislike certain movies.