Bugonia: The End of the World Has a Group Chat

Bugonia is what happens when conspiracy theorists decide that saving the planet requires kidnapping a CEO. A workplace dispute handled with the appropriate level of calm and no firearms training.

Teddy and Don are convinced that Michelle Fuller is an alien planning destruction. Their evidence is a mixture of internet theories, trauma, and the confidence of men who have watched videos and consider investigative journalists. They abduct Michelle and demanding answers, because “please explain your business practices” was considered too polite.

Emma Stone plays Michelle with an icy calm that makes every silence feel like a threat. Jesse Plemons gives Teddy an uncomfortable blend of conviction, grief, and sweaty panic. Together, they make scenes fascinating even when the characters are behaving so badly that you begin drafting their court summons.

Yorgos Lanthimos directs the film with his familiar taste for strange behavior, deadpan cruelty, and people who seem to have been assembled by aliens studying human awkwardness. The movie is funny, but laughs come with a warning label. Its conspiracy theories land differently now, when the internet can turn suspicion into an identity before breakfast.

The result is bizarre, grim, and visually sharp, with absurdity to keep the darkness from becoming unbearable. It is also less interested in telling us who is normal than in asking whether normal has ever been a useful category.

Bugonia is a mean little science-fiction comedy about power, paranoia, and humanity’s impressive ability to make every problem worse. Bring snacks; do not bring your theories.