It would take a mighty generous read to extract anything of worth out of "Joker: Folie à Deux," the tepid, sort-of musical sequel to 2019's transgressive origin story of the famed Batman villain.

Where the original film took the Joker story as a jumping off point to hold a mirror to a decaying society and its treatment of mental illness, for starters, "Folie à Deux" spins its wheels and struggles to connect to anything larger than itself. It's a bleak, handsome looking and well acted film that just doesn't have a whole lot to say, which isn't the worst thing, but it's a far fall from the high-water mark of its predecessor.

Joaquin Phoenix is back in the role that netted him an Oscar for best actor as Arthur Fleck, the street clown who went on a killing spree and is now locked up inside Gotham City's Arkham Asylum. There, he's constantly needled by the prison guards — including Brendan Gleeson as lead guard Jackie Sullivan — who mock and taunt him by asking, "you got a joke for us today?"

Arthur, deathly gaunt, is awaiting trial for his crimes, and Catherine Keener is his lawyer, Maryanne Stewart, who is mounting a defense that Fleck has a split personality, and it was his shadow self that committed the heinous crimes. (Arthur's charged with five murders, although he's quick to point out he actually offed his mother, too, bringing his body count to six.) Arthur himself is somewhat checked out of the process of his own trial, for which he faces the death penalty, as he has something else on his brain: love.

Arthur falls for Lee Quinzel, who is played by Lady Gaga, a patient inside Arkham Asylum who claims to be a Joker superfan, having watched the TV movie made about Arthur's exploits numerous times. (Arthur himself has been barred from seeing the movie, but is very invested in its quality.) Lee puts a song in Arthur's heart, and together they sing a series of pop standards — "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered," "(They Long to Be) Close to You," "That's Entertainment!" — sometimes together, sometimes in fantasy sequences unfolding inside Arthur's head.

The musical set pieces are a distraction from the fact that there's not a whole lot going on in the movie. Arthur sings Stevie Wonder's "For Once in My Life" while among his fellow inmates inside a prison break room, and Phoenix gives it his all, expressing Arthur's inner feelings in a physical feat of song and dance. But it all unfolds in his head, and the sequence doesn't add to the forward trajectory of a story that is hopelessly stuck in one place.

At one point, Arthur and Lee appear together as hosts of a "Sonny & Cher"-type variety series — again, another fantasy sequence, which further illustrates what we already know about Arthur's state of mind, window dressing on an empty household.

While "Folie à Deux" is never boring to look at — credit is due to production designer Mark Friedberg and cinematographer Lawrence Sher — it's unclear what it is or wants to be, and the nagging feeling is it's a movie made for no one.

"Batman" fans who were sucked into the lore of the first film because it connected to the larger "Batman" web and gave heft to the world of Gotham won't find much connective tissue here, other than the introduction of "Industry's" Harry Lawtey as Gotham D.A. Harvey Dent. Fans who connected to the first film because of its larger social context aren't given any strings to follow, as "Folie à Deux" takes place in a suffocatingly small world.

Even Gaga fans hoping for a breakout moment from the singer to give her brassy all will be disappointed. Gaga is convincing and committed in the part, but as the character is written, Lee doesn't have enough of an arc for a signature moment of unfettered Gaga-ness. She's begging to break out, to unleash her Gaga magic and explode into song, but she's never given the opportunity.

So who is "Folie à Deux" for? The closest read is it's director and co-writer Todd Phillips' middle finger to the fanboys who turned the first film into a sensation, an attempt to burn down what the first film built. But "Joker" is too protected a property to be completely kicked to the curb, so "Folie à Deux" ends up in a frustrating state of limbo, where it feels caught in the middle of a push-pull between warring partners and doesn't amount to much on either end. Like a clown strumming a sad song, this "Joker" is a major bummer.

———

'JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX'

Grade: C-

MPA rating: R (for some strong violence, language throughout, some sexuality, and brief full nudity)

Running time: 2:18

How to watch: In theaters Oct. 4

———

©2024 www.detroitnews.com. Visit at detroitnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.