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A quasi-musical and courtroom drama featuring Joker and Harley Quinn, this sequel to the excellent “Joker” fails in both of those aspects and just about everywhere else. As far as the main plot, it’s a bit boring and tedious. It takes a long time to take any real direction, and when we do finally get to the Trial of the Joker portion of the film, there’s just no payoff. And while there’s hope the finale will bring meaning to the story, it’s somewhat abrupt, predictable and a letdown. While Arthur Fleck’s arc does work on some level, it does not work at all for the Joker’s story. Another misfire is Harley Quinn. She’s too much of an enigma to care about one way or another. No reason to care about her besides her connection to Fleck, and since she seems untrustworthy and ambiguous, you never know if you even want her anywhere near him. While I’m no fan of musicals, I can appreciate when they’re done well. Here, they’re all flat and forgettable and mostly portrayed as people just actually singing to each other…usually somewhat poorly.

*1/2 out of *****