Bugonia (2025) – Bee-Gone-Ia

Released: 30th October 2025
Seen: 22nd February 2026

On December 4th, 2016, a fucking moron – who I won’t bother naming here – went to the Comet Ping Pong pizza shop in DC and fired multiple shots. Thankfully, he didn’t end up hurting anyone. Still, his plan was to go in to investigate the pizza place because he believed, thanks to other fucking idiots, that there was a child trafficking ring being operated out of the basement. One small problem, Comet Ping Pong didn’t have a basement nor was it in any way related to a child trafficking ring, it just happened to be a place where the Clinton campaign would occasionally buy food and a bunch of idiots reading emails decided that the phrases “pizza” or “Hot dogs” was some kind of elaborate code suggesting that they were buying children. This is probably the turning point where conspiracy theories went from curious things that went around the internet into actual real-world problems that caused the stupidest among us to threaten the lives of others, try to overthrow duly elected governments and believe that drinking raw milk is actually good for you. It’s the kind of insane shit that’s ripe for someone to use as the basis for a thriller, and Bugonia takes that mantle and runs with it.

Bugonia begins with the kidnapping of Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone), the wealthy CEO of a pharmaceutical company. Her kidnappers are two men, Teddy Gatz (Jesse Plemons) and his autistic cousin Don (Aidan Delbis) who have kidnapped her because they believe that she is secretly a space creature known as an Andromedan and are demanding that she send a message back to her species to tell them to bugger off. Naturally, being a human woman and all that, Michelle can’t actually do this and so a battle of wits occurs between a highly intelligent woman and an absolutely insane fuckwit with hair that hasn’t been washed since the last Bush administration… you can guess which one has the upper hand for a lot of this.

Once again, the combination of director Yorgos Lanthimos and star Emma Stone creates something weird and captivating, only this might be the most frighteningly realistic thing the two of them have come together to create. I opened with the story of the Comet Ping Pong because it really does feel like Bugonia is almost a commentary on how modern conspiracy theories can warp minds and make people do truly horrifically violent things for absolutely no valid reason. Sure, this might seem heightened at first, but then you see footage of sovereign citizens proclaiming that they don’t need a licence to drive because they’re just travelling and realise that this movie is almost tame in comparison to how stupid real people can be. This film, and particularly the performers, seem to understand just how to sell the idea of someone who fell so far down a conspiracy hole that they can and have done horrific things just to prove their belief is correct.

Bugonia itself is at its absolute best when it just throws the two leads into a room together and lets them talk, one of them spouting insane conspiracy theory bullshit with all the conviction in the world while the other one desperately tries to find some way to break through the haze of insanity that has destroyed their captor. The push and pull between them is powerful. Every time they meet, the dynamics change so dramatically and it’s just a powerhouse pair of performances that make everything else work so well. Seeing Teddy desperately try to get information out of the woman he’s convinced is an alien, so convinced he’s willing to torture her to get it and never once seeming to doubt what he’s been told on the internet is horrifying on so many levels. The only reason it’s not downright depressing is seeing Michelle slowly figure out how to get the upper hand, using her skill of spinning a narrative to try and come out on top in a situation where she can’t physically fight back. The two of them together just have a perfect adversarial chemistry that propels the entire film.

Indeed, it makes so much sense why Emma Stone can throw this on her list of Oscar-nominated performances because she really does give one of the most powerful performances of her career, truly fearless in so many ways and able to walk that fine line of someone absolutely terrified about what’s happening while also maintaining control of the situation. Little things like the way her eyes widen subtly when she hears some information and doesn’t want to make it clear how scared she is or just how she manages to overpower the men in the room with nothing but her voice is astounding. It’s the kind of performance where calling her a victim almost seems unfair because there is no one in the room strong enough to take her on, and she makes it clear as can be who the real power in every room is.

Bugonia also includes the biggest snub of the Oscars this year: Jesse Plemons, who delivers the best performance of his career here in an entirely unsympathetic role. You will, in seconds, absolutely hate this delusional moron with a god complex, and he deserves every single bit of that hate. As a performance though, it’s jaw-dropping just watching him attempt to keep the veneer of professionalism and peacefulness going, all barely covering a cacophony of crazy, violent delusions that are mostly self-inflicted thanks to the internet rabbit holes this guy has jumped down. It’s a performance that dances between extremes, a dinner scene that starts quietly can explode in an instant and it’s all because of how glorious Jesse Plemons is throughout the entire film. His work should have gotten so much more praise and awards than it will get, but let me throw even more praise on it while we’re here.

The entire film itself is just a lambasting of absolute idiot conspiracy theorists, but also of the real-world problems that feed those conspiracies. The theorists might be right that the world is in danger, species are going extinct and the rich are fucking it up for everyone but their inability to aim that anger at the real causes of these issues is just perfect for mockery and a great target that this film takes shots at every chance it can get. It doesn’t bother with being subtle, subtle is for other films, this film would rather just angrily throw a severed head in the room and scream “DEAL WITH YOUR SHIT” and sometimes we need that. Sometimes you need a film that just does away with the subtle complexities and just screams in anger. 

Now, admittedly, all this would be so much better were the ending not one that falls into a trope I personally hate. I’m not going to give anything away, but really every second after the ambulance ride is the kind of thing that makes my blood boil when a film does it, but really if a film’s going to be great and horrifyingly fascinating for 95% of the runtime I can be OK with it stumbling a little at the final hurdle. Most of the film just works well, it’s probably the most cohesive and calm film that Yorgos and Emma have done together and it really does stick with the viewer once it ends, like any good, unsubtle brick of a film should do.

Bugonia might not be subtle, but it is fascinating. With some truly great performances, a lot of visual flair and a score that technically exists, it’s certainly not the best film in the Yorgos/Emma pantheon but it’s still pretty damn great. It’s a film that delivers the primal scream that we’ve all wanted to make when we see idiots flailing over shit people make up online… It’s just sad that there’ll always be enough material to make a million more films like this because there are just so many horrifyingly stupid people around.