“When a running joke becomes a “Kick Me” sign: In It Chapter Two, James McAvoy stars as an author and screenwriter who’s first seen on a Hollywood movie set, tweaking an adaptation of a horror opus that appears to be as long as It, Stephen King’s cinder-block of a novel.

“At issue is the ending. Nobody likes his endings — not the studio, not the director who lied to him about liking it, not even his wife.

“It’s a welcome bit of author-approved self-deprecation from King, whose endings have often been chaotic, and a little comic insulation for the film itself, which proceeds to wrap up the story in a tidy 169 minutes.

“That’s enough time to space out multiple callbacks to the joke and make it seem fresh every time.”

Read more at NPR