Bugonia

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⭐7.5/10

This is a movie that's up for best picture this month, and kinda falls into my wheelhouse as it's a quirky dramedy led by my favorites Jesse Plemmons and Emma Stone. It's a fantastic premise where Plemmons, a conspiracy theorist, kidnaps Stone, a CEO he thinks is an alien, and, ya know, hijinks ensue. 

I get why people love this movie. I think this is a good movie and I wanted to love it more. I don't have much to offer for critiques, but I kinda just wished I was moved by the characters more, or more into the plot, or I wished I laughed more at the jokes. I almost wish they leaned more into the silliness, made this more of a comedy, because this plays out more as a representation of weird people that actually exist. That's fine, I just didn't find it super compelling. 

There's also some really cool ideas being explored here. I loved this idea of misplaced suspicion, stuff we see all the time. There is hurt, but rather than seeking to understand a world or people that are often uncaring, we feel the need to create a bigger, more dramatic narrative. I thought these ideas were explored in some really cool ways and I'm not sure I've seen a movie quite like this one. Again, I appreciate this movie, I just can't say I loved watching it. It reminded me a bit of 10 Cloverfield Lane, a pretty different movie, but it had more of those mind-effer situations that I think this one was going for. 

So that's really all I have. I know there is a lot of focus on the ending, and I did think it was fun but also oddly detached to the rest of the story. I was fine with it but it didn't move the needle for me too much. Again, not sure why I'm coming down so negative on this one, so I think I'll score it somewhere between what I felt watching it and what I think it deserves. 

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