Todd Phillips’s 2019 Joker was a cinematic experience. True, it was hard to watch, violent and shocking, but in all the right ways. Finally, a supervillain/hero movie that didn’t insult the intelligence. (Pedant’s corner: the Joker cannot be classed as a true supervillain. Pissing off Batman doesn’t count. He has no supernatural or otherworldly powers, only a severely murderous psyche. But he could, and certainly does, exist within today’s society, and this is what makes him so frightening.)

But I digress. One of the things that made Joker so engaging, in addition to Joaquin Phoenix’s devastatingly evil performance, was that it functioned as a stand-alone story. Most viewers were pretty sure there’d be no sequel. Phoenix doesn’t do things like that, we said. Jeez, even the friggin’ director, who previously made no less than three Hangover movies, said there’d be no follow-up. $o I’m at a lo$$ to under$tand why thi$ movie exi$t$.

After the explosive events of the denouement of the last movie, we find Arthur Fleck (Phoenix, now almost parodying his character) rather unsurprisingly in prison on trial for murder. The film quickly settles into a pattern alternating between a boring jailhouse flick and an even more tedious courtroom procedural. With singing. Oh, and poor, misunderstood Arthur has found an equally psychopathic soulmate in Lee Quinzel (a nascent Harley Quinn).  Lady Gaga steps up for the role, but while she may be good for the posters and ticket sales, she is given criminally little to do and affects the plot not at all. 

While I generally applaud filmmakers who are brave enough to take the “Big Swing,” the self-indulgent (desperate?) decision to make this already-mediocre film into a joyless musical must have been made on crack. I confess I like most musicals, but here the numbers fail to advance, enhance, or even relate to the story, and Lady Gaga’s musical talents mostly serve to stress Phoenix’s lack of same. Where’s Baz Luhrmann when you need him?

BTW: This movie reportedly cost $200 million to make, but it’s hard to see where the money went. It’s gratifyingly bombing right now at the box office. I suggest you help send a message about profit-oriented, pointless sequels by missing it. Twice.

P.S.: There’s so much smoking going on that I swear my clothing smelled of tobacco as I left the theater. (148 min)