Movie magic seems to happen when filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone come together — as proven by the Academy Awards and other critical acclaim earned by Poor Things, Kinds of Kindness and The Favourite. Coming soon to the 2025 film calendar is their fourth collaboration, Bugonia. Critics have seen the absurdist comedy, and they are singing the praises of the lead actress.
Emma Stone stars as Michelle Fuller, the CEO of a major pharmaceutical company, who gets kidnapped by two conspiracy theorists (Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis) who shave her head because they’re convinced she’s an alien intent on destroying Earth. Some of our CinemaBlend movie experts attended early screenings, and they’re calling Bugonia just as weird as they hoped while fully recommending this bonkers dark comedy.
Meanwhile, Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting gives the movie 4 out of 5 skulls, praising the update of the 2003 South Korean flick Save the Green Planet! from Jang Joon-Hwan as “timely.” Yorgos Lanthimos’ version gives an even more cynical prognosis about humanity’s future, Navarro says, writing:
The sardonic, genre-bending satire takes aim at modern echo chambers and their erosion of humanity. Lanthimos’ signature ability to skew reality with absurdist humor and style belies a cynical condemnation of our self-destructive nature. That makes for a unique remake that’s both faithful and wildly different from its source material, one that’s unafraid to get even bleaker with its paranoia.
Nick Schager of Daily Beast also calls out the timeliness of the movie amid present-day irrationality and dishonesty, and gives high praise to Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons. With both delivering year-best performances, according to the critic, Stone continues her remarkable run as one of the greatest actors of the 21st century. Schager says:
Once again displaying the go-for-broke instincts and bonkers agility—a mixture of stern glares, duplicitous smiles, and untrustworthy façades—that have made her Hollywood’s most adventurous actress, Stone is a mesmerizing riot in this bleak satire of our current state of disorder—as is her co-star Jesse Plemons, who matches her intensity and manages to outdo her craziness.
Ross Bonaime of Collider rates Bugonia an 8 out of 10, saying you’ll need a rewatch to fully appreciate Emma Stone’s performance. Jesse Plemons is the perfect addition to what the critic says is one of the best director-actress combos possibly ever, resulting in “one of the strangest, absurd, and darkest comedies you'll see this year.” Bonaime continues:
Bugonia is a remarkably tense film, as it puts two wholly opposing forces in a room together to see who bends first. On one hand, with Teddy, you have the man who believes without a doubt that he has kidnapped an alien. … On the other hand, you have Stone’s Michelle, who knows she is not an alien, and has to convince a man either that she isn’t what he thinks, or go the other way and play into his delusions wholeheartedly. This back-and-forth is fascinating and fun to watch, and [Will] Tracy’s screenplay keeps the audience guessing where this story is going until the very end.
Robert Daniels of RogerEbert.com says Bugonia is an enraged picture, but the scope of that anger is deliberately revealed throughout the movie’s 118 minutes. It’s not a perfect movie, but it leaves its mark, the critic says. He gives it 2.5 out of 4 stars, writing:
Lanthimos spends much of Bugonia questioning who the monsters and tyrants are and what is the tangibly human and emotionally alien. His film, produced by Ari Aster, invites obvious parallels with Eddington as a critique of the pandemic and the aftershocks it’s still doling out. Despite the easy comparison point, Lanthimos’ film feels safer than Aster’s, which, for all its faults, took big bites and left some indelible marks.
Matt Donato of IGN gives it a “Mediocre” 5 out of 10, acknowledging its stellar cast, but saying in a film that tries to balance barbed sci-fi themes and conspiracy looniness funneled through Lanthimos’ trademark quirks, Bugonia fails to stick the landing. Donato writes:
Bugonia might win audiences over with its performance power – not a shock with Stone and Plemons involved – but that’s wholly dependent on each viewer’s digestion of the finale, where Lanthimos’ command over Tracy’s dialogue fades away. That won’t be the same for everyone, and there is cinematic merit to behold, but Bugonia lives and dies by its closing scenes. Well, most films do, but when you swing as hard as Lanthimos, that sentiment is quintuply true.
Whether or not this will go down as one of Emma Stone’s best movies remains to be seen, but it sounds pretty universally agreed upon that she and Yorgos Lanthimos are a powerhouse combo — with Jesse Plemons welcome anytime.
Bugonia will see a limited release that begins today, October 24, before opening wide on Friday, October 31.
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