Bugonia
Focus Features | Release Date: October 24, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 61 Critic Reviews
Positive:
48
Mixed:
10
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyNov 1, 2025
While it’s been argued that Lanthimos harbours active disdain for other people, Don reminds us that there’s a poignant streak of empathy to be found in even the most nihilistic of his stories. Hope, in Bugonia, is mostly lost. But not entirely. Read full review
100
Film ThreatAlex SavelievOct 30, 2025
It’s Plemons, who’s always stellar, that proves to be the real revelation. Read full review
100
The TelegraphRobbie CollinAug 28, 2025
Stone and Plemons prove ideal co-conspirators, with carefully balanced performances that have them taking turns as hero and villain without ever quite annihilating our sympathies or winning them outright. Read full review
91
The PlaylistMarshall ShafferAug 28, 2025
Bugonia might be as blissfully bonkers as the era of its release, yet don’t let that distract from what a masterclass in directorial control the film represents for Yorgos Lanthimos. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesAmy NicholsonOct 24, 2025
Bugonia is a hilarious movie with no hope for the future of humanity. What optimism there is lies only in the title, an ancient Greek word for the science of transforming dead cows into hives, of turning death into life. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithOct 23, 2025
Bugonia isn’t merely dark; it’s a black hole. But Mr. Lanthimos’s vision is sternly compelling, and Bugonia is that exceptional movie that’s extremely hard to forget. Read full review
90
LooperMatthew JacksonOct 17, 2025
It's another triumph from a singular voice in cinema, and another Lanthimos movie you sort of never see coming. Read full review
90
Screen DailyNikki BaughanAug 28, 2025
It’s a serious message delivered in typically entertaining Lanthimos style and hammered home via a bravura climax which manages to be both gonzo and gut-wrenching in equal measure. Read full review
90
VarietyOwen GleibermanAug 28, 2025
As terrific as Stone is, though, it’s Jesse Plemons who gives the film’s most extraordinary performance. Read full review
88
Washington PostMichael Andor BrodeurOct 29, 2025
It’s a viciously smart and disturbingly funny abduction tale, primarily confined to a grubby basement but with a purview that extends from the inner sanctums of the memory to the outer reaches of the galaxy. Read full review
88
The Associated PressJake CoyleOct 22, 2025
Though I’ve been apprehensive about the flamboyant severity of Lanthimos’ movies, I found “Bugonia,” a chamber-piece gut punch, hard to shake. Read full review
88
ObserverSiddhant AdlakhaSep 9, 2025
Will Tracy’s screenplay adapts the basic premise and parameters of Jang’s original, but director Yorgos Lanthimos puts his unique tonal spin on the material, turning in one of the most sardonic Hollywood comedy-dramas in recent memory. Read full review
83
The Film MavenKristen LopezNov 1, 2025
Yorgos Lanthimos's Bugonia is such a fresh exploration of humanity and what our future in the world is. One could say by the time it reaches its conclusion it's utterly depressing, and yet it feels so inevitable. This is a movie where you'll want to wait for others to see it so you can truly dive into its themes. Plemons is the MVP, though Delbis and Stone are also great. Another hit from Lanthimos! Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeNov 24, 2025
Even by the standards of a Yorgos Lanthimos film, Bugonia is an unhinged and savage piece of storytelling. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzNov 1, 2025
Every image feels intentional, with nothing left to chance. (This results in some amazing images, many of them involving Stone’s face.) Along with the precision of the performances, this makes Bugonia one of the more enjoyably weird times at the movies in recent memory. Read full review
80
Radio TimesJames MottramNov 1, 2025
This pleasingly madcap comedy-drama will no doubt satisfy fans of Lanthimos’s off-kilter take on the world around us. Read full review
80
NMEVictoria LuxfordNov 1, 2025
While perhaps not as glorious as Lanthimos’ best, Bugonia’s shock and awe prompts a discussion about internet culture that hits worryingly close to home. Read full review
80
iFrancesca SteeleOct 31, 2025
What the film does so well, though, is bring enormous compassion to a story that initially seems to despair for the world. Read full review
80
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeOct 31, 2025
This remains a careering exercise in mid-ranking Yorgosia that just about justifies its many indulgences. We should remain grateful that a talent so odd remains somewhere adjacent to the mainstream. Read full review
80
Little White LiesHannah StrongOct 30, 2025
Perhaps it’s his fidelity to this team of collaborators that creates such a fluid vision; much like the honey bees that Teddy lovingly tends to in his garden, every artist moves in service of a grand design. Read full review
80
EmpireJohn NugentOct 27, 2025
Riveting, unhinged, and sardonic to its honey-soaked core, this is another Lanthimos-Stone winner. (With a great opening-title typeface, to boot.) Read full review
80
The New YorkerJustin ChangOct 24, 2025
This movie offers an uncommonly pleasurable descent into hell, and for that reason, I suspect, it will elude the criticisms that have been flung at two other recent provocations, Luca Guadagnino’s “After the Hunt” and Ari Aster’s “Eddington,” both of which likewise sneered at performative politics and were attacked as noxiously reactionary. Read full review
80
IONCINEMA.comNicholas BellOct 23, 2025
Arguably less sensational and surprisingly straightforward, 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. Read full review
80
Rolling StoneDavid FearOct 23, 2025
You’re never sure which truth is out there, exactly, in Lanthimos’ caustic, chilling, and occasionally chuckle-inducing poke in the eye. You just acknowledge that no one seems to find one we can all agree on. Read full review
80
The Daily BeastNick SchagerOct 23, 2025
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. Read full review
80
ColliderRoss BonaimeOct 21, 2025
With Bugonia, Lanthimos elevates an already fantastic concept, making an essential film about the world we live in and just how insane and hopeless it can feel at times. Read full review
80
Paste MagazineNadira BegumOct 20, 2025
Bugonia is ripe with tension and oftentimes hilarious, but its comedy is derived in an easy way. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriAug 28, 2025
By the time Bugonia is over, with a series of beautiful and haunting images that seem to come out of nowhere, we understand that beneath its bemused dispassion lies a deep longing for connection. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyAug 28, 2025
Stone and Plemons are both in top form, clearly vibing with the director’s idiosyncratic sensibility and upping each other’s game. And newcomer Delbis is a sad-sack delight, a sweet-natured naïf caught in Teddy and Michelle’s ferocious battle of wits. Read full review
80
Screen RantJack WaltersAug 28, 2025
Bugonia will make you laugh, squirm, and gasp in equal measures, but the film always feels in control of which of these emotions it wants you to feel at any particular moment. Lanthimos is a master of creating atmosphere, and Bugonia really feels like he’s at the top of his game. Read full review
77
The AtlanticShirley LiNov 6, 2025
Bugonia’s provocative premise doesn’t yield a sci-fi thriller. The film instead offers an intimate, unhurried exploration of human cruelty. Read full review
75
The Travers TakePeter TraversNov 1, 2025
Even with Emma Stone as his glorious muse, Yorgos Lanthimos can be self-indulgent, self-satisfied and grindingly obtuse, but damn he is also a true visionary. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldOct 31, 2025
Yorgos Lanthimos’ particular brand of dark comedy can be an acquired taste, and his latest, the gritty conspiracy thriller Bugonia, pushes that taste to the limit. Read full review
75
USA TodayBrian TruittOct 29, 2025
While tonally jumbled and at times violently jarring, the movie delivers strange vibes and extremely strong performances from Jesse Plemons at his oddball finest and Emma Stone, who may or may not be from our planet. Read full review
75
Original-CinJim SlotekOct 22, 2025
Bugonia is not Lanthimos’s best, but it is likely off-kilter enough for fans, or maybe introductory-weird for newcomers to his genre. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeChris VognarOct 21, 2025
Working from a script by Will Tracy, Lanthimos creates a realistic ridiculousness, and trusts his leads to walk the tightrope with him. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineRocco T. ThompsonSep 29, 2025
The film unearths new depths of existential anxiety engendered by the increasingly tumultuous 2020s. Read full review
75
TheWrapSteve PondAug 30, 2025
Any time a logical explanation (or even an illogical one) seems imminent, Lanthimos pulls the rug out from under his audience’s expectations. Read full review
75
The Film StageZhuo-Ning SuAug 28, 2025
If there’s still any doubt that this is a Lanthimos joint, the final montage to wrap up the unpredictable misadventure observes our world with such loving, bleak honesty it can hardly be mistaken for anyone else. Read full review
75
IndieWireRyan LattanzioAug 28, 2025
Imagine if Michael Haneke’s Funny Games were instead about a pair of lone-wolf, conservationist vigilantes trying to save the world instead of two sociopathic twinks wanting to tear it down, and you’ll have some idea of the hyper-contained, rigorously controlled torture chamber that is Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia. Read full review
70
The RevealKeith PhippsOct 23, 2025
At once uncomfortable and compelling, Bugonia builds toward a wild and misanthropic final act that plays like nothing less than a sincere rejection of humanity itself. By that point, Lanthimos has kind of made it feel like we have it coming. Read full review
70
The New York TimesAlissa WilkinsonOct 23, 2025
Really, though, the reason to watch Bugonia is its leads. Read full review
70
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaOct 15, 2025
It's sick and twisted enough to stick with you, and the closing moments are particularly delightful (in a bleak sort of way). I just wish it all added up to a little bit more. Read full review
63
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenNov 13, 2025
Bugonia has its creative “pleasures.” . . But mostly it feels like we’ve been here before, with the same faces. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliOct 31, 2025
There are moments of brilliance, but overall this is a bit of a chore—and the ending renders the whole enterprise kind of pointless. Of the director’s six English-language films, this is his biggest misstep and the one I’ve liked the least. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshOct 23, 2025
For the majority of the run time, Bugonia is the kind of film you respect more than you enjoy, as the archness and absurdity of Stone’s character is too dissonant with the sincerity of Teddy’s sadness at the core of this story. Read full review
63
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiOct 9, 2025
Bugonia buzzes by, if sometimes nauseastingly, and is a huge improvement from Lanthimos’ episodic drivel last year. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comRobert DanielsSep 1, 2025
Bugonia is an enraged picture. It’s mad at the world; it’s mad at humanity. Nevertheless, the structuring to reveal the full scope of that anger is surprisingly deliberate. Read full review
60
Time OutSophie Monks KaufmanOct 15, 2025
Stone and Plemons’ verbal battles of wits are worth the price of admission, even if the script co-written by Will Tracy (The Menu) is overly reliant on culture war jargon. Read full review
60
Next Best PictureCody DericksAug 30, 2025
Bugonia makes the disappointing choice to favor ridiculousness over meaning. Read full review
60
TimeStephanie ZacharekAug 28, 2025
The world isn’t pretty, and Lanthimos is sounding the alarm. If only he would tell us something we don’t already know. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawAug 28, 2025
Yorgos Lanthimos’s macabre and amusing new film has a predictably strong performance from Emma Stone, an intestine-shreddingly clamorous orchestral score from Jerskin Fendrix and, most importantly, a wonderful montage finale – but frankly it’s a very, very long run-up to that big jump. Read full review
58
ConsequenceLiz Shannon MillerOct 31, 2025
Bugonia, the newest movie from Yorgos Lanthimos, features a simple-enough structure, some stunning performances, and some twists that make it damn hard to write about without getting into spoilers. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubNatalia KeoganOct 22, 2025
Lacking distinctive social commentary, meaningful character development, or a salient environmental angle, the update feels all but incapable of speaking to the moment. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreOct 31, 2025
Plemons and Stone, who has become the director’s Oscar-winning muse, are terrifyingly real. And the allegory of a civilization in crisis lured like lemmings off this or that cliff of lunacy lands hard. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerOct 22, 2025
True, the odd quill may scratch the surface, but there’s nothing really penetrating. Read full review
50
IGNMatt DonatoSep 30, 2025
Bugonia is a film that tries to balance barbed sci-fi themes and conspiracy looniness funneled through Lanthimos’ trademark quirks, but it slips off the pommel horse on the dismount. Read full review
40
The TimesKevin MaherSep 6, 2025
In short, Yorgos, move on. Read full review
33
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzOct 20, 2025
Whereas Jang’s original film was driven by a funky visual inventiveness that embraced wacky comedy over repellent and snide creepiness, Lanthimos’s version merely doubles down on the filmmakers’ most annoying tendencies: obvious observations about power dynamics, ostensibly outrageous acts of violence that underline a juvenile affinity for shock humour, and an overall contemptuous view of humanity that is played for easy, repetitive yuks. Read full review
30
SlateDana StevensOct 23, 2025
Like Ari Aster’s Eddington earlier this year, Bugonia invites us inside the internet-poisoned imagination of a lonely male protagonist who has “done his own research”—and, as with Eddington, the result is an allegory about contemporary life that’s as nauseatingly gory as it is thuddingly obvious. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonOct 21, 2025
It’s not a cookie cutter superhero film or predictable horror film. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it’s form without enough content. Read full review
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