Bugonia (2025) review

Bees - which are essential for providing sustenance for humankind - are dying off so 'conspiracy theorist' Teddy Gatz (Jesse Plemons) and his autistic cousin Don (Aidan Delbis) abduct successful biotech CEO Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone) because Teddy's convinced that she's actually an alien and trying to destroy Earth.  The entire film - which is an English-language remake of 2003's Save the Green Planet! (from South Korea) - hinges on whether or not the audience believes Teddy is insane or truly onto something (and it does everything imaginable to make the viewer think he's completely bananas), but Stone and Plemons, two of the best on-screen talents in the world, are both so committed and dominant they help carry the daft premise along, even to the point where Michelle somehow dupes Teddy into killing his sick mother (Alicia Silverstone) with anti-freeze, with him thinking it's a "magical cure" (like ivermectin! or bleach!).  Of course, all it amounts to is a glib joke - humans are the enemy of nature - although it provides a nice twist for those who mock post-COVID individuals who are terminally online and "do their own research."  Maybe we should be worried about chemtrails and Tylenol making kids autistic!  (I kid.  Follow the advice of your physicians.)