“Deadpool & Wolverine” is a fun romp for loyal fans who enjoy star-studded cameos, R-rated wisecracks and obscure references to other story lines in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

But it’s not a very good movie. It’s more like a two-hour platform for inside jokes, lots of breaking of the fourth wall and some genuinely clever pop culture references amid scenes of mass murder that are played for comedy but aren’t funny.

The main thing the movie lacks is a story we can really invest in and care about. Usually when characters break the fourth wall and acknowledge that we’re just watching a movie, it comes as a comic jolt, because we’ve already become swept up in the reality that the filmmakers are creating. But “Deadpool & Wolverine” lacks a reality to subvert. From start to finish, it offers a knowing and playful attitude in place of drama.

Morena Baccarin, left, as Vanessa and Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool are seen in a scene from “Deadpool & Wolverine.” 

In the role that devoured his once-promising career, Ryan Reynolds (who also co-wrote and co-produced the film) stars as Deadpool, a fast-talking, ultra-violent, unkillable superhuman without portfolio, who was rejected by the Avengers. When he is informed by a cosmic bureaucrat, Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyan, “Succession”), that his universe is about to be destroyed — as part of routine multiverse maintenance best explained in the Marvel Disney+ series “Loki”— Deadpool makes it his mission to save his timeline.

Ryan Reynolds, left, and Matthew Macfadyen perform in “Deadpool & Wolverine.”

The only problem is, he can’t do it alone. He needs a partner — and not just any partner. He needs Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), who has been dead since 2017’s “Logan.” But no matter. In the multiverse, there are many Wolverines living in various timelines, and so Deadpool goes from one universe to another, looking for a Wolverine he can take on a heroic bloody ride.

The acting partnership of Reynolds and Jackman on display here works fairly well, largely because Jackman refuses to ever acknowledge that he’s in a comedy. He plays every scene as if stewing in a sea of shame, rage and annoyance, which makes for an amusing contrast with Reynolds’ nonstop, superficial chatter.

Hugh Jackman as Wolverine/Logan in a scene from “Deadpool & Wolverine.”

As for the movie’s two — perhaps 2½ — blood-soaked scenes, how you react to them will strongly influence how you feel about the movie overall. These are scenes on the scale of those in the “John Wick” franchise or “The Boys” Prime Video series, in which Deadpool and Wolverine go through a crowd of adversaries, killing them one by one.

Many will regard such scenes as pure spectacle and understand them to be so unrealistic and extreme as to be ridiculous and therefore harmless. But in a country plagued by wholesale violence, is this really something you feel like laughing at and cheering on? “Deadpool & Wolverine” presents death as having no consequence, not only because these supposed bad guys are people we’re not supposed to care about, but because the multiverse makes individual life unimportant. If someone dies in one place, they’re alive in 100 other universes.

Ryan Reynolds, left, and Hugh Jackman team up in “Deadpool & Wolverine.”

But most people won’t be thinking about that. They will be plenty satisfied by the celebrity cameos — which I will not spoil here — and too busy laughing at the deluge of comical pop culture references, from allusions to Will Smith’s infamous Oscars slap to the life-savings effects of “The Great British Bake Off.” (“That show stood between me and suicide for 10 years,” Deadpool says.) They will also have fun with nods to “Mad Max,” 1968’s “Planet of the Apes” and even “Old Yeller” from 1957.

You could think of “Deadpool & Wolverine” as a movie written by smart, funny people (director Shawn Levy, heading a five-man writing team with Reynolds) with absolutely nothing to say, or you can think of it as a delight that’s strictly for the Marvel fandom. It’s definitely not for everybody, but even a non-fan stumbling into the theater accidentally will find whole sections here to enjoy.