Sequels often face an uphill climb to please fans of the original, but “Joker: Folie à Deux,” five years in the making, says the whole climb to hell and rests its feet on a completely new cushion . While we can understand the risk, the reward is out of reach for this sequel, which will frustrate loyal fans and newcomers alike.

In one of the film’s most revealing moments between Joker and his new lover (one in which it seems like the lagging story might get some momentum), Lee reveals, almost casually, that she has become pregnant through the special intimate moment they shared. his prison cell, committed with a passion comparable to picking your nails in a pharmacy waiting room. Joker is in disbelief and ecstatic. When he questions her further, Harley immediately dives into a musical number. When he once again looks for confirmation that she’s telling the truth, in an attempt to reignite an important conversation between adults, Harley brazenly continues her a cappella version of The Carpenters’ “Close to You” while serenading Joker through the bars of his cell into a state of pure delusion.

That includes the frustratingly obtuse courtroom musical that will confuse fans of the first film and basically anyone hoping to have a decent time at the movies. Yes, you read that right: courtroom musical. And it’s unbearable. There’s more to it than that, but not much. A pop culture figure and a symbol of social subversion for many, Joker is the lower-class antihero of Gotham. It certainly wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card that he would follow up his tyrannical carnage in 2019’s ‘Joker’ with the off-note film that, I regret to report, is ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’.

“Joker” was a huge success, both critically and commercially. It made a surprising amount of money and earned actor Joaquin Phoenix his first Oscar for playing the tortured Arthur Fleck, a working clown with mother problems, childhood trauma and a vendetta against bullies. “Folie à Deux” begins a few years after Fleck, aka Joker, murdered six people, including his own all-powerful mother and a popular late-night television host who was live on the air. In prison, Fleck is mild-mannered and generally well-liked by the guards (Brendan Gleeson). Harvey Dent, played here by Harry Lawtey, who doesn’t look old enough to have seen Batman portrayals before, let alone old enough to reasonably play a prosecutor, has his sights set on the death penalty for the poor Arthur Fleck whose lawyer (Catherine Keener) has the unwanted and almost impossible task of turning public opinion in his favor.

None of this life-or-death stuff seems to mean much to Fleck, who has little dialogue in the first half of the film and whose behavior is barely hampered by the possibility of the electric chair. It’s not until he comes face to face with the show tune-obsessed Lee Quinzel (aka Harley Quinn) that his life literally becomes a fairytale. Lady Gaga’s take on Lee involves her acting with restraint, avoiding big emotions and dramatic outbursts. (Should we call her performance brave and nuanced because she’s wearing sweatpants bare-faced?) Restraint is needed in some roles, but her opportunities to build the character and make an impression in this film are as hard to come by as the raison d’être of the film. ‘être, when we speak French. While we all know Gaga can sing, audiences are longing for more acting opportunities for the multi-hyphenate. She won an Oscar, after all, but given the way she’s handed a metaphorical microphone and thrust into the spotlight in this film, you’d think she’d have nothing to offer other than her singing voice. She has no defining moment, no bold feature that sets her apart from Fleck’s clown makeup, a prop that allows Joker to hide behind or monopolize his impending doom.

Writer-director Todd Phillips, who had such a handle on Joker’s unstable demise in the first film, opts to send his protagonist and new love interest into a two-hour dream sequence. Joker and Lee sing for most of the film, digressing into musical renditions of old songs as if they were demented Sonny and Cher impersonators. At least Sonny and Cher had a real relationship. Joker and Lee never seem to find their sync, brooding or acting or singing around each other like two orbiting moons, occasionally crossing paths in service of the same planet.

Encouraged by Lee and his rising public popularity, Fleck fires his lawyer to represent himself in possibly the least stimulating courtroom scene in movie history. It’s so bad that Joker’s disastrous Southern accent is a highlight. The ending’s lack of any resolution, a slow unraveling without any high points or inflection points, ultimately leads to his conviction, then his escape, followed by his capture again. Only in the last twenty minutes do the musical numbers slow down and the action pick up, but then “Folieà Deux” is too far gone to save. If you think the ending couldn’t get any worse, it does. “Folie à Deux” closes, to quote TS Eliot, not with a bang, but with a whimper. Quelle deception.

“Joker: Folie à Deux” is in theaters now.