What the hell did Todd Phillips set out to accomplish with Joker: Folie à Deux?

As well-made as the 2019 original but without any of its intelligence or mystery, the writer/director's Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) follow-up struggles to make more than hints of points, resulting in a slog of empty provocation and horrendous musical numbers.

If Phillips' goal was to punish viewers with a lack of filmmaking focus, he succeeded; yet there's little evidence to suggest this is some full-fledged, intentional critique of Joker fanatics. Despite some intriguing details regarding a made-for-TV Joker movie of ambiguous quality and the extremes to which die-hard supporters like Harley Quinzel (Lady Gaga) will go, Phillips is unwilling to commit to the bit.

Into this opening salvo, the filmmaker pours all but pointless uses of show tunes and pop songs from bygone eras. Though initially serving as a gateway to the budding Joker/Harley romance and their shared demented psychology, there's again barely a through line to point to in these inconsistent scenes.

It's as if Phillips’ favorite aunt who loved musicals passed away recently and he shoehorned a tribute to her into a Joker movie — and the theoretical honoree didn't exactly have great taste, either.

Though there's some gonzo potential in Joker’s and Harley’s variety show take on The Bee Gees’ “To Love Somebody,” during which music and violence blend rather nicely, it’s merely another fleeting, seemingly random moment of clarity in this broken clock of a movie that's still right twice a day.

Phoenix’s and Gaga’s talents are wasted in this slapdash musical romance, and it's also unclear what Steve Coogan or Brendan Gleason — two of our finest working actors — are doing here in thankless roles. But when it's all in the service of the dull courtroom rehash of the first film, featuring callbacks from surviving characters that just make one want to watch Joker instead, no one’s going to emerge unscathed. 

Not even a surprise climax that harkens back to the highs of its predecessor can save this dud, which will also hopefully bury Phillips’ once-promising career for a good decade, if not longer.

Grade: D. Rated R. Now playing at Carolina Cinemark and Regal Biltmore Grande.

(Photo: Warner Bros.)