'Joker: Folie à Deux' review: Impressively un-superhero-like, but stuck in place

This is what happens when you hire a former circus agent for your A Star Is Born remake. — Photos: Warners Bros Malaysia

Let's put on a happy face, at least to start, for Joker: Folie à Deux.

If there's one undeniably compelling thing about both Todd Phillips' divisive 2019 original and his new follow-up, it's that these movies are best when they dance. The first movie might have been a muddled attempt to retrofit a Taxi Driver-styled ‘70s realism into a Joker origin story, but, man, when Joaquin Phoenix is on his toes, it's hard to look away.