If you only watch one, make it Joker (2019). It is the entry with the strongest mix of critic attention, audience approval, and awards recognition, and it is the film every later version is measured against. The sequel and the older films that inspired it are worth your time only after you know why the first one divided people so sharply.
Our pick: Joker (2019)
Todd Phillips directed, Joaquin Phoenix plays Arthur Fleck, and the story follows a struggling comedian in a decaying Gotham. Phoenix won the Academy Award for Best Actor, Hildur Guonadottir won for Best Original Score, and the film took the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, a rare honor for a comic book adaptation.
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The commercial result is just as unusual. Reports put its worldwide gross past one billion dollars, which made it the first R rated film to reach that mark. That combination of awards and box office is why the ratings conversation around this film never really stopped.
How the ratings actually break down
The numbers explain the argument better than any opinion piece. Critics were split, landing in mixed to mildly positive territory on review aggregators, while audiences scored it far higher. On most platforms the user score sits well above the critic score, and IMDb users rank it among the best reviewed releases of its year.
- Critics: mixed, with praise for Phoenix and Hildur's score and complaints about borrowed Scorsese imagery and heavy-handed themes.
- Audiences: strongly positive, driven by Phoenix's performance and the film's grim character study.
- Awards bodies: two Oscar wins plus the Golden Lion at Venice.
Option two: Joker: Folie a Deux (2024)
The sequel reunites Phoenix with Phillips and adds Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, turning the story into a courtroom drama with musical numbers. Both critic and audience scores dropped sharply compared with the first film, and the general response treated it as a misfire. Watch it if you want to see what a sequel looks like when the director deliberately rejects what made the original popular.
Option three: the films that shaped Joker
Joker borrows openly from two Martin Scorsese pictures, and both hold up better than the films imitating them. Robert De Niro even appears in Joker as a talk show host, a direct nod to one of them.
- Taxi Driver (1976): the lonely outsider, the city as a pressure cooker, the violent finale.
- The King of Comedy (1982): the delusional performer and the celebrity obsession that drives Arthur's arc.
- The Batman (2022): a different Gotham tone, useful if you want the city without the origin story.
Which rating source should you trust
Each site measures something different. Critic aggregates reflect professional opinion, user scores reflect public mood right after release, and awards reflect industry taste. For Joker that gap is the whole story: a film that professionals treated with suspicion and audiences treated as a defining performance of its decade. Read both before you decide.
Bottom line
Start with Joker (2019) and judge Phoenix's performance for yourself. Move to Folie a Deux if you are curious about the follow-up, then go back to Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy to see where the ideas came from. The ratings are a guide, not a verdict.