LOS ANGELES, Oct. 20 (UPI) — Bugonia, in theaters Friday, has an outrageous premise that falls apart under minor scrutiny. The cast is game and director Yorgos Lanthimos imbues proceedings with his surreal aesthetic but it is not their strongest work.
Based on the South Korean film Save the Green Planet!, Bugonia stars Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis as cousins Teddy and Don, respectively. The pair kidnap Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone), a pharmaceutical CEO they suspect of being an alien.
Michelle’s direct connection to their family is uncovered gradually throughout the film. Early on, Teddy asserts Michelle is an alien from Andromeda, so he and Don shave her head to prevent her from calling for help.
This makes it a bit counterproductive when Teddy demands Michelle contact her people to grant him passage onto their ship. If her hair was a transmitter, how does he expect her to reach them without it?
Whether one is familiar with the original film or not, Bugonia is essentially leading to only one of two conclusions. Either Teddy is right or he’s wrong, and building to either ending dulls the dynamic between Teddy and Michelle. It’s also not especially subtle.
Emma Stone stars in “Bugonia,” in theaters Friday. Photo courtesy of Focus Features
Still, the dilemma Michelle finds herself in bears sound dramatic tension. She has to survive captivity without scaring her captors.
Michelle has to convince them they figured out she is Andromedan, but she can’t predict the levels of conspiracy Teddy believes. When she plays along, he demands she speak Andromedan.
Before her kidnapping, Michelle (Emma Stone) has a full head of hair in “Bugonia,” in theaters Friday. Photo courtesy of Focus Features
Teddy’s delusions escalate to actual reverence for the alleged Andromedan. Teddy dismisses past traumas that suggest they at least contribute to the coping mechanism he created.
The film elicits sympathy for Don too. He is trapped under Teddy’s influence; however, moments of revelation for him are not as surprising as the film presents them to be.
From left, Aidan Delbis and Jesse Plemons observe Emma Stone in “Bugonia,” in theaters Friday. Photo courtesy of Focus Features
While Stone and Plemons are captivating going head to head, their two-hander is undermined by the structure. They are headed toward a result more than actually debating, and the content of those debates is superficial.
Lanthimos imbues flashbacks of Teddy’s story with surreal touches akin to his films Poor Things and The Lobster. These reflect Teddy’s fragile state.
Aidan Delbis (L) and Jesse Plemons star in “Bugonia,” in theaters Friday. Photo courtesy of Focus Features
Corporate evils are a good target for a dark comedy. Michelle’s corporate speak could be seen as an alien attempt to mimic human communication, which means the human corporations who speak like that have no excuse.
Alas, the more successful parts of Bugonia do not add up to a satisfying encounter, let alone a profound one. While certainly not poorly made or performed, Bugonia nevertheless remains unsatisfying.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
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