Fans got a taste of Emma Stone and director Yorgos Lanthimos‘ latest collaboration yesterday thanks to a new trailer for Bugonia, and now, the film has landed a killer Rotten Tomatoes score that signifies the duo have once again created movie magic. Also starring Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis, Stavros Halkias, and Alicia Silverstone, the black sci-fi comedy is a remake of the 2003 South Korean film Save the Green Planet!, and is set to hit theaters on October 24, 2025.
Premiering at the Venice International Film Festival yesterday, early reviews have praised Bugonia as being “spectacular,” and its newly unveiled Rotten Tomatoes score of 100% backs up that sentiment. “Everything that happens, no matter how crazy and wild, obeys a perverse but irrefutable ritual,” commented critic Luis Martinez in their review, while also adding: “The idea is to give meaning by exposing its most intimate contradictions to everything that in everyday life lacks meaning.” Nicholas Bell echoes those sentiments, writing:
“It’s another expertly crafted bit of bizarre theatrics from an auteur who remains fascinated with exploring characters struggling to comprehend situations from obscured vantage points, puzzling skewed realities together often too late to avoid disaster.”
Bugonia marks the fourth feature film collaboration between Stone and Lanthimos, and the second between the director and Plemons. This time around, the plot sees Stone portraying the high-powered CEO of a major company who is kidnapped by two conspiracy-obsessed young men (Plemons and Aidan Delbis) who believe her to be an alien intent on destroying the planet. It’s an outrageous premise that in this day and age isn’t beyond the realm of possibility, and one that works according to critic Nikki Baughan, who writes:
There’s a great deal of the macabre playfulness of previous Lanthimos works. But the film’s grounding in a nightmarish reality gives it a directness which propels the narrative.
Jesse Plemons Steals the Show in ‘Bugonia’
While Emma Stone might be the focal point of Bugonia’s mystery, critics agree that it’s Plemons who steals the show in this one. That comes as no surprise, really, as he’s easily one of the best actors working today, and makes the most of his on-screen opportunities to deliver memorable performances. Remember Alex Garland’s Civil War? As Mina Takla from AwardsWatch puts it:
“The film belongs to Plemons, who delivers one heck of a performance. As Teddy, he masterfully shows us the character’s multiple facets: menacing, deranged, bruised, tormented and unforgiving.”
“As terrific as Stone is, it’s Jesse Plemons who gives the film’s most extraordinary performance,” echoes Owen Gleiberman from Variety. When it comes to Lanthimos as a director, the consensus is that Bugonia has all the trappings fans have come to know and love from the prolific creator, who delivers a movie that’s “populated by characters who feel like they exist in the real world.” Take Pete Hammond from Deadline Hollywood Daily, for example, who wrote:
“Bugonia may be way out there, but I haven’t seen a film this year that feels as much of the moment for a world spinning out of control. It is indeed pure entertainment, but we should pay attention to what it is trying to say.”
With reviews like that, it certainly appears as if Lanthimos, Stone, and Plemons have another hit on their hands, but the real test will be to see what the audience thinks. Will they be as receptive to what is undoubtedly one of the director’s quirkiest films? We’ll find out when Bugonia opens nationwide on Oct. 24, 2025.
Release Date
October 24, 2025
Runtime
120 Minutes
Director
Yorgos Lanthimos
Writers
Will Tracy
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