The concept is bold, but the execution less so in a film that distances itself from the danger of the "Joker".

By Owen Gleiberman

In "Joker: Folie à Deux," Todd Phillips' desperate-to-be-darkly-irreverent but actually rather wooden and earthbound musical sequel to "Joker," Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), the pathetic incel who turned himself into a self-made psycho-killer version of the Joker, is about to be tried for his crimes. In theory, this would be a good thing, since Arthur doesn't come out much. At Arkham State Hospital, he lives in a small, filthy cell from which he's released each morning so he can sneak down the hall with his bucket of pee and dump it in a sink. Arthur is now skin and bones, his face scrunched up in despair. The guards, led by the cheerful sadist Jackie (Brendan Gleeson), keep asking him, "Do you have a joke for us today?" But Arthur is out of jokes, and out of smiles. He's back to being the picture of misery.

Of course, he’s famous now — so famous for murdering talk show host Murray Franklin on live television that they even made a TV movie about him. “Everyone still thinks you’re a star,” Jackie says. He’s right. The whole world knows who Arthur is. A lot of people hate him, but at least one person in Arkham, an inmate named Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga), with two-toned platinum hair and a look of unkempt desperation, adores him. She’s seen that TV movie countless times. When he walks into the room, her eyes light up. The rest of the world might think he’s crazy, but she looks at him and sees . Joker.