Big Picture Big Sound

Despite a built-in audience, 2019's "Joker" seemed like a surprise success that kept on going and going. The movie grossed $1 billion at the worldwide box office, went on to garner 11 Oscar nominations - the highest tally for that year's ceremony - and won Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix. A sequel, of course, was inevitable and "Joker: Folie à Deux" was born.

The first "Joker" had it flourishes, largely telling a DC Comics story with a Martin Scorsese filter. While the movie often flirted with pastiche, the craftsmanship behind the movie did set it apart from other comic book films (to be clear, this still didn't make it a good movie).

Director Todd Phillips returns with "Joker: Folie à Deux," which picks up in the aftermath of the first movie. Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) has been committed to Arkham Asylum and is awaiting trial for the crimes committed in the first movie. While there, he meets Lee (Lady Gaga), who he has an immediate connection with Arthur (folie à deux is defined as "delusion or mental illness shared by two people in close association). She is infatuated with Arthur, but more so with his actions as The Joker.

There's been a great deal of buzz surrounding "Joker: Folie à Deux" and if it is actually a musical or not. To the detriment of the movie, it is a jukebox musical. Arthur's mind will drift away in the middle of a scene and his inner thoughts will be expressed through a song. Phillips' deserves credit for trying to do something ambitious when comic book movies are required to be safe for commercial consumption, but the musical aspect drags the film down. Each fantastical musical moment feels stitched in from a completely different movie and ruins the flow of the film, which already suffers from pacing issues at 138 minutes.

The truest issue with "Joker: Folie à Deux" is how dully the entire picture plays out. The movie is largely a courtroom drama, with the musical elements interspersed and a half-baked love story in between. Phillips - who co-wrote the screenplay with Scott Silver and Bob Kane - finds no synergy between the various tones at play and they often repel one another. When it's time for it to be a Joker movie, it feels like it's just repeating the first time around.

Phoenix's performance in the original swept that year's award season, where he picked up every Best Actor trophy on his way to the eventual Oscar. It was a curious choice, but he's not likely to repeat such success. His performance here plays the hits: the cackle, the outlandish statements, and the aloofness. He brings back what he brought to the first movie, but this time there's a song in the Joker's heart. Gaga, who has proven herself to be a strong actress, especially in "A Star is Born," is good in a role without an ounce of depth.

To its credit, "Joker: Folie à Deux" tries to sidestep being just another sequel or rapid response to a successful first movie. But, it's a movie where ambition and execution are warring, which winds up making the film insufferable to sit through. There's always room for more sequels, but Phillips' iteration of this character already feels exhausted.