When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.<\/i><\/p>\n Credit: Focus Features<\/p>\n Movie magic seems to happen when filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone come together \u2014 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<\/a> is their fourth collaboration, Bugonia. Critics have seen the absurdist comedy, and they are singing the praises of the lead actress.<\/p>\n 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<\/a> because they\u2019re convinced she\u2019s an alien intent on destroying Earth. Some of our CinemaBlend movie experts attended early screenings, and they\u2019re calling Bugonia just as weird as they hoped<\/a> while fully recommending this bonkers dark comedy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting<\/a> 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 \u201ctimely.\u201d Yorgos Lanthimos\u2019 version gives an even more cynical prognosis about humanity\u2019s future, Navarro says, writing:<\/p>\n The sardonic, genre-bending satire takes aim at modern echo chambers and their erosion of humanity. Lanthimos\u2019 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\u2019s both faithful and wildly different from its source material, one that\u2019s unafraid to get even bleaker with its paranoia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Nick Schager of Daily Beast<\/a> 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<\/a>. Schager says:<\/p>\n Once again displaying the go-for-broke instincts and bonkers agility\u2014a mixture of stern glares, duplicitous smiles, and untrustworthy fa\u00e7ades\u2014that have made her Hollywood\u2019s most adventurous actress, Stone is a mesmerizing riot in this bleak satire of our current state of disorder\u2014as is her co-star Jesse Plemons, who matches her intensity and manages to outdo her craziness.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ross Bonaime of Collider<\/a> rates Bugonia an 8 out of 10, saying you\u2019ll need a rewatch to fully appreciate Emma Stone\u2019s performance. Jesse Plemons is the perfect addition to what the critic says is one of the best director-actress combos possibly ever, resulting in \u201cone of the strangest, absurd, and darkest comedies you’ll see this year.\u201d Bonaime continues:<\/p>\n 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. \u2026 On the other hand, you have Stone\u2019s Michelle, who knows she is not an alien, and has to convince a man either that she isn\u2019t 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\u2019s screenplay keeps the audience guessing where this story is going until the very end.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Robert Daniels of <\/a>RogerEbert.com<\/a> says Bugonia is an enraged picture, but the scope of that anger is deliberately revealed throughout the movie\u2019s 118 minutes. It\u2019s not a perfect movie, but it leaves its mark, the critic says. He gives it 2.5 out of 4 stars, writing:<\/p>\n 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\u2019s still doling out. Despite the easy comparison point, Lanthimos\u2019 film feels safer than Aster\u2019s, which, for all its faults, took big bites and left some indelible marks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/span><\/div>\n