Lamar Reviews - "Bugonia" (Airdate 11/7/2025)

This is a really hard movie to review, one of the hardest I’ve ever reviewed. Not because it is a bad movie, which would be really easy. It is not because it is wonderful, I would just tell you not to miss it.

It is because it is very strange, and very hard to explain, at least without ruining the experience.

If you have watched the trailer, seeing that Emma Stone is in it makes it intriguing, and trying to figure out what heck is going on makes it interesting.

I will tell you that when you walk into the movie you don’t know what is going on, after 30 minutes you think you know what is going on, and 15 minutes later, you realize you just thought you knew and you really don’t. This continues every 15 minutes until the movie is over. Then as you walk out, you will be trying to decide exactly what have you have just seen.

The movie is 1 hour and 58 minutes, Rated-R for bloody violent content, grisly images, suicide and language.

Now I know that does not sound like ringing endorsement, but I’m not saying don’t go see it.

The problem is, my hands are tied, this movie goes in many directions, and it would be really easy to spoil it.

Emma Stone is fantastic as Michelle, the Gucci, Chanel, and Prada wearing CEO of a major pharmaceutical company. She wants everyone to think she cares for all employees and wants them to feel free to leave work early to be with their families, unless of course they have work they could be doing, it is of course still a job.

Then we have Teddy, played by Jesse Plemons, who is perfect as a bee keeping conspiracy theorist who blames Michelle for many things including putting his mother in a coma after her company’s drug trial went wrong.

Don, played by Aidan Delbis is Teddy’s sweet and simple cousin he drags into his scheme to kidnap Michelle and force her to admit she is an alien and save the bees.

The movie is aiming at dark comedy, but it brings more cringes than laughs. We get the idea that Michelle is not what Teddys says she is but it is plain her company is not the hero in this story, but at the same time she is the victim that Teddy has kidnapped and is torturing for what end we are not sure, so he is not the hero either.

Don, Teddy’s cousin is the only innocent in the movie, and the only one that actually makes any sense.

Emma Stone actually had her head shaved on camera in the scene, and just minutes before that scene was shot, she shaved the head of the director Yorgos Lanthimos.

Every actor did a great job, this is one of those movies that will have you guessing over and over, then being totally surprised at the end.

It was a rollercoaster ride of violence and craziness, but I am truly glad I saw it. You may or may not have the same experience.

My Score: 4 Budweisers