119 min | R | October 24, 2025 | Focus Features
Lanthimos and Stone do their weird thing again. It works. Oscar bait, sure, but the kind that actually earns it.
Emma Stone is a gift to comedy and weird movies and this is both. She plays the kidnapped CEO with a straight-faced intensity that makes every absurd beat land harder. You never know if she’s terrified or amused or something else entirely. That ambiguity is the engine of the whole film. Plemons matches her note for note as the true-believer conspiracy theorist who may or may not be completely right.
Lanthimos knows exactly what he’s doing at this point. The guy has a formula. Deadpan weirdness plus prestige production values plus actors willing to go anywhere. It shouldn’t keep working but it does. The script walks a razor line between genuine tension and dark comedy without ever falling off. Every scene could tip either direction and you’re never sure which way it’s going until it gets there.
Yes it’s Oscar bait. The pedigree screams it. Lanthimos plus Stone plus Focus Features is a formula designed to collect nominations. So what. Not every awards play is cynical. Sometimes the weird movie IS the best movie. This one earns its runtime and its performances and its strange little heart. Four stars.