This is one of those films that had it not been for someone else talking about it I likely wouldn't have known that it existed until quite some time after its release. They just didn't market it very widely and I think I can related to why that is. These days marketing a film just doesn't seem to work all that well and I think they were banking on the star-power of Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons (who i've read is referred to as "Meth Damon") and unfortunately for Focus Pictures, it doesn't look like this lack of promotion gamble has paid off.
I'm sure it will break even or even make a slight profit after streaming.
Spoiler alert
As I always do, I make attempts to not include spoilers but sometimes I slip up and can accidentally do so anyway. This is one of those films that I think would be ruined if you know even a bit of the plot and especially the twists, so if you want to enjoy this film fully, just know that I thought it was excellent and and think you definitely should see it.
This is slated as a "dark comedy" but honestly, I think they are obligated to call it that because the film they based it on actually was a comedy. This film on the other hand, doesn't have any real comedy in it at face value. There are some subtle nods towards comedy that are picking on conspiracy theorists and flat-earthers, but outside of that there isn't really any humor in this.
What is going on here is that Meth Damon is "Teddy" a simple man who tends to beehives and works a working man job. He also is a big believer in conspiracy theories and one of them is that the world is actually sought to be ruled over by an alien race called "Andromedans." He gathered this opinion directly related to his beehives and how the aliens are intentionally killing off the bee population in order to eliminate a great deal of the earth's food supply and therefore the amount of people alive on it.
Teddy works alongside his mentally challenged cousin Don and they carefully plan out and execute the kidnapping of a CEO that Teddy believes is responsible for what is going on with the bees. He also believes, actually knows that she is an Andromedon. Don listens very carefully to his cousin who is clearly in charge, but he is more susceptible to cracking under pressure.
Michelle (Emma Stone) is the CEO in question and Teddy and Don attempt to force a meeting between Teddy and the leaders of the Andromedans to negotiate their withdrawal from Earth, leaving humans at peace.
Michelle is a very intelligent woman, that is how she got to be the CEO of a large company. At first she tries reason towards here kidnappers, telling them that the only way they avoid getting in huge trouble is to do what she says... Don is cracked a bit by this but not Teddy, who believes that it is of the utmost importance that he expose the Andromedans and get this meeting, even at the expense of his own, and Don's life.
Michelle does whatever she can to try to manipulate the situation including trying to pretend as though she actually is an alien and going through the motions that Teddy has established for her. All the while she is of course trying to escape.
I fear that if i delve into the plot any more than I have already that I will accidentally spoil the experience so instead I'll just focus on general themes.
I think that all of us have met someone that is intensely conspiratorial and how all consuming their obsession can be. I once met a flat earther in a bar one day and while I was being kind to him and not suggesting he is an idiot or even that he was wrong, he become aggressive in his words and eventually in his physicality because I didn't immediately pledge allegiance to his cause. This sort of obsession with knowing the truth because of their own independent research and believing that only they and a few select others are enlightened enough to know the "truth" can be a recipe for disaster.
no amount of calm discourse can convince such people that they might be incorrect and they are able to justify their thoughts with the information bubble that is so easy for people to find online these days. These people can become dangerous to others and this is something that we see in the character of Teddy in Bugonia.
The conspiracy minded people that I have met in my own life, for the most part I believe them to be very intelligent but it is their own obsession and insistence that they are correct and everyone else is wrong almost always leads to them not being taken seriously and they kind of become ostracized in a self-inflicted sort of way.
They do a good job of showing that "Teddy" is exactly like this. Jesse Plemons does a very good job of playing this role and Emma Stone does a very good job of being the corporate type that through many years of success and "winning" believe that she can reason her way out of any situation. She doesn't take these two backwoods people seriously enough and consistently believes that she is "better than them" and can logic and reason her way out of a very dangerous situation. Emma does a very good job of portraying this sort of arrogant professional the likes of which I think most of us have met at one point in our life or another.
Both of these types of people are very difficult to get along with, and I have met both... perhaps you have as well and therefore you will be able to identify with their performances as well.
Should I watch it?
This is one of the better films that I have seen this year but even though I feel this way I think that for many people that the eventual payoff that is the final 30 minutes of this film might require too much of a lead in to keep the entertained. This is a "dialogue-rich" film and for those that require immediate payout, it may drag on too long for them.
I'm not judging anyone, but I do think that because of the information age that we live in now that people have much shorter attention spans than they used to so it may seem a bit slow to a lot of people out there. I thought it was worth the wait but at nearly 2 hours long, some might have preferred if we had moved things along a bit more rapidly.
If you have the patience, I feel as though this is one of the better films of the year
at the moment the only LEGAL way to watch this film is a few theaters that are still showing it, and to rent it for something outrageous like $20 on AppleTV or Amazon. It is likely to hit streaming subscriptions soon, so I'd just wait for it if I were you
